Tenshi, Mayonaka: A Life's Journey
by koryuu
Summary: Mayonaka is somewhat of a prodigy child. At one point in her life, a demon is sealed within her and she becomes one of a hated breed: the jinchuuriki. Throghout her life she comes in contact with more of her kind. OCxGaara NaruxHina ShikaxTema OCxNeji
1. Chapter 1

Mayonaka-chan's Story

years 1-6:

It was a joyous week for the people of The Village Hidden in the Sky. The second-born of the Tenshi clan was due to arrive this week and she would be capable of so many things having inherited not one but two powerful kekei-genkai. Both kekei-genkai were inherited every tenth generation. On her mother's side, the kekei-genkai was the metsuki-kyoudai and on her father's side was the gekai. The metsuki-kyoudai was inherited by the first-born female of every tenth generation and the gekai was inherited by the by the second-born of every tenth generation. The new arrival to the Tenshi clan fit the requirements for each kekei-genkai and much was expected of her from both the village and the Tenshi clan. All seemed well.

The Arrival

The whole village stood behind the home of the Tenshi clan awaiting the newborn girl to be brought out and introduced. The mother had gone into labor and word had quickly spread throughout the village causing everyone to gather beneath the family's balcony, waiting for the cry of a baby.

It was 11:45 at night. The mother had been in labor for 2 hours now. No one had moved or said a word in fear of missing the new arrival. The air was so thick with tension that the people of the village could've sworn they felt it pressing down on their anxious shoulders. The children had long ago gone to bed from exhaustion and impatience. The old were only able to stay awake because of the younger adults waking them when they had started to nod off.

Fifteen minutes had passed and right as the clock struck midnight and the bells began to ring, a sense of peace and calm fell over Sukai, lifting the tension away. No one could really fully explain what had happened.

Ten minutes passed and the door on the balcony opened, catching everyone's attention. A boy of 15 years, the clan's first-born, and a man, the boy's father, carrying a baby walked out onto the balcony. The man uncovered the sleeping baby's face and lifted her in the air over the entire village.

"Tenshi, Mayonaka! Born at exactly 12:00am on November 29th! Heir of the metsuki-kyoudai and gekai kekei-genkai!" shouted the man. The village erupted in cheers, waking Mayonaka who looked down upon the village and giggled at the wonderfully joyful sound that had reached her ears.

3 years later . . .

Mayonaka was sitting in her room, studying for the test she had on her family history tomorrow. Mayonaka was a quick learner and was able to walk at 2 months and speak at 10 months. Her parents then decided to teach her some of the basics before she started school. They also thought it important she know about her family history. She rarely left the house because whenever she completed one subject, her parents gave her another, leaving her little free time. She didn't mind though. Her brother, Hebimaru, helped her when he could, but he often had to go train now that he was a jounin. Besides, whenever Mayonaka left the house, people who wouldn't leave her alone instantly surrounded her.

"Mayonaka-sama! Do you want some help studying?"

"Mayonaka-sama! Will you come play with my son?"

The requests and offerings were never-ending. Mayonaka knew they meant well, but all she wanted sometimes was peace and quiet. But when she was home, that's all she ever got.

Her parents, being two of the most highly respected village elders, were always at meetings about ways to keep the village safe. Hebimaru was always training, eating, or sleeping. Mayonaka knew he didn't have time for her. The maid left her alone. Mayonaka didn't have any real friends because she was always forced to play with the children. She didn't get the luxury of choosing whom she wanted to play with. When she did play with them, she was on such a higher intellectual level that it was almost unbearable. Mayonaka knew the true meanings of the words "solitude" and "isolation."

That night, Mayonaka's parents informed their children of some important news. "Kids, 3 years ago, the Kyuubi attacked one of our allies: the village Konoha. The 4th Hokage stopped the Kyuubi. He trapped its soul inside the body of a newborn boy." Mayonaka was mildly confused.

"Mother, why are you telling us this?" Although she was only 3, Mayonaka had the maturity and intellect of someone much older. It was a rare occurrence for her to be confused.

"Your mother is telling you this, Mayonaka, because the village elders are expecting an attack from the Tokage-jigoku."

"Won't the mountains protect us?" Sukai was an incredibly isolated village. It was completely surrounded by mountains, creating a natural barrier to the outside world. It was called "The Village Hidden in the Sky" because many outsiders believed it rested atop the mountains in the sky, surrounded by clouds.

"No Mayonaka. Have you learned nothing from your studies? Not only can the Tokage-jigoku break through the mountains by brute strength, but it can fly over them as well."

"But Hebimaru, not even the birds can fly that high! And the mountains are hundreds of feet thick! That would be entirely impossible!"

"Mayonaka, your brother's right. The Tokage-jigoku is the strongest of all demons. She can do anything she wants to. If she attacks, we are almost doomed to be defeated, unless . . ."

"Unless what mother? Unless what?!"

"Mayonaka, if you agree to become the shell for the Tokage-jigoku like that boy from Konoha was forced to be, Sukai may survive. You are the only one likely to survive the transfer. Would you be willing to undertake this task should Sukai be attacked?"

"Mom, I . . . I . . ." Mayonaka didn't know what to say. She loved her home, Sukai, but, to have a demon inside of her?! She couldn't even imagine it. She was only 3 years old for God's sake!

"Please think about it my Midnight Rose. I know this is a lot to ask of you and it's so sudden, but if you could just –"

"Yes. I'll do it." Mayonaka abruptly cut off her father, knowing she was the only thing that could save Sukai should the Tokage-jigoku attack.

"Good. Tomorrow your mother and I will begin your training to help you gain control over both of your kekei-genkai."

And it began.

A Few Weeks Later . . . At Dusk

Mayonaka nervously tugged at her necklace. It was given to her when she was born. The charm was some sort of gourd with strange markings on it. Her mother had bought it at a silver shop. It was one of those necklaces that was said to help point you in the direction of your true love. Mayonaka was told of all this but didn't quite understand it yet, but she still never took it off, not eveen when she slept or bathed.

She was nervous because the Tokage-jigoku had been seen near the village and she had been ushered off to a safety shelter. Over the past few weeks, she had almost fully mastered both kekei-genkai.

The gekai allowed her to heal any physical wound in a matter of seconds using only a minimal amount of chakra. It also allowed her to temporarily transfer any abnormal powers she had, like her kekei-genkai, to anyone else by touch. This meant that if she wanted to heal someone, she would merely have to touch them. It also enabled her to control all of her bodily functions like her heartbeat or how fast her metabolism was.

The metsuki-kyoudai allowed her to see through anything. This ability made it easier to detect injuries in someone's body. She could then either target the wound for an attack or to heal it. The metsuki-kyoudai also allowed her to get inside a person's mind and read their thoughts, or force thoughts or images into their head. It was a very successful type of torture, or a way to send secret messages to one another. Both of her kekei-genkai combined allowed her to feel the emotions of others. The stronger someone's emotion was, the easier it was to feel and the farther away she could feel it.

When Mayonaka heard a knock on the door, she stopped fiddling with her necklace, stuffed it down her shirt, and sat up straight as a chuunin ninja walked into the room. "Mayonaka-sama," he began while bowing to her, "the Tokage-jigoku has approached the village. I have been sent here to usher you deeper into the shelter so you may come to no harm."

At this, Mayonaka gracefully stood up and took the ninja's hand. She didn't want to admit it, but she was terribly frightened and was glad that she wasn't alone anymore. "Ninja?"

"Yes Mayonaka-sama?"

"Where are my parents, and my brother? Why is it that you have come and not one of them?"

"Your father and brother are part of the first line of defense. Your mother is at the field where the battle would take place should the demon get through. She also sent you a message. She says to use your metsuki-kyoudai to remain connected with her through mind. She will tell you when it is time to come so she can perform her jutsu."

They had reached their destination. The deepest room in the shelter. This would protect almost anyone from almost anything. Mayonaka still didn't feel safe. Her hand instinctively went to her necklace for comfort.

"Mayonaka-sama, this is where I leave you. Only come when you are told."

The ninja released his hand from her grip and sprinted back down the hall towards the battlefield. Mayonaka was alone. She sat down, shut her eyes, and began snaking her mind through the village, searching for her mother. 'I'm here honey. Do not be frightened.' Mayonaka heard her mother's thoughts. She locked her mind onto her mother's and wouldn't have let go if the apocalypse had taken place. It was a comfort to know her mother was okay.

A Few Hours Later . . .

The Tokage-jigoku had gotten past Sukai's defenses. Mayonaka could feel the heat of the flames erupting from the demon's mouth, even though she was miles away. She could feel the fear and despair emanating from all of the ninja fighting for the village. Suddenly, she heard her mother's mind shouting at her, 'Mayonaka! Come! It is time!' before her mother could even finish the last syllable, Mayonaka stood up and sprinted towards her mother's voice.

At The Battlefield . . .

Mayonaka found her mother at the back of the battlefield near the center of the village. There were dead bodies and blood everywhere. The horrible stench of burning flesh and hair made Mayonaka gag. She estimated that about half the village's population was lying there dead, having fought proudly for their home. The heat was tremendous. New flames were sprouting up everywhere. The noise was earsplitting. The demon was roaring as loud as she could, the ninja were shouting orders, the flames crackled and the screams of the dying tore through the night. The smoke stung Mayonaka's eyes and burnt her lungs causing tears to run down her face as she sprinted to her mother.

"Mayonaka!"

"Mother! I'm here!"

"Mayonaka I must warn you that the jutsu I am about to perform will kill me. I don't know if your father or brother survived the first attack. If you are the last of the Tenshi clan after this battle, another family will care you for. Is this alright Mayonaka?"

She didn't know what to do. Her mother dead? The thought was too horrible to conceive. She knew that if she refused to let her mother perform the jutsu, Sukai was as good as gone. The smoke was making her mind go fuzzy. She couldn't think straight. Just as the clock struck midnight, Mayonaka numbly nodded her head, and followed her mother into the heat of the battle.

Mayonaka's vision blurred because of the smoke and tears pouring down her face. Her lungs were filled with soot, but she couldn't feel a thing. Everything was a numb blur as she ran alongside her mother. They reached the fire-breathing beast and stopped. Everything skid to a screeching halt.

The demon looked down upon the two insignificant mortals standing so confidently in front of her. She took a deep breath, ready to burn them to death. Within the blink of an eye, Mayonaka's mother performed a series of complicated hand signs and unleashed the forbidden jutsu. Mayonaka could feel the enormous creature's soul entwining itself with hers, entrapped within her small body, and then she passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

A Few Weeks Later

A New Life . . .

Mayonaka awoke on a filthy bed, dressed in rags. The room she was in had a bare bulb giving off harsh light from the ceiling. Some natural light tried to filter in through the dirt-encrusted window onto the bare dirt floor. No wood, no concrete, just hard, unforgiving, dirt. She sat up. Her hand made the familiar journey to her necklace and was pleased to find it still there.

"Mother? Father? Hebimaru? Where are you and what happened to the house?"

She was answered with silence. Then, in a flash, it all came back to her. The battle with the Tokage-jigoku, her mother, it had all happened. It seemed so long ago. She felt sick. Her mother was dead and she had a horrible demon inside of her. She burst out of the room. She needed fresh air. She desperately screamed for her father and brother wanting to be comforted in their arms. She turned a corner and skid to a halt. She almost slipped and fell but she was able to catch herself in time. A man was standing there, blocking her way.

"I see you're finally up you worthless excuse for a child." He glared at her. He was very finely dressed and Mayonaka became severely self-conscious of her appearance. She noticed that the room she had been in before was the only dirty room she had encountered.

"Um, sir? Where is my father . . . and my brother?"

The man smirked at her. "Oh! You want to know where your family is?" the smirk slid off his face as he glared at her again. "I should have figured you'd want to go after them first seeing as they cut you up pretty good you filthy demon. Too bad they're already dead. Died in the first line of defense. What a shame. They were good people."

Mayonaka couldn't believe him. She didn't understand what he meant about her family cutting her up. Her family had never abused her. Then it came to her. This man thought she _was_ the Tokage-jigoku, not just it's shell.

The man obviously enjoyed seeing Mayonaka in pain. She kept herself from grabbing her necklace knowing it was likely he would try to steal it. It was pure silver and very expensive. Silent tears streamed down her face. Her whole family was gone and she had been put in the care of this horrid man. "Now you go back to your room before I beat the living hell out of you. You will stay there until we figure out what chores you will be doing around the house. You will find your own food. We will not feed you. Should you do anything to displease us, you will be beaten. Understood?"

"Yes sir," she mumbled, barely audible. Mayonaka knew when she had lost. She hurried back to her room. This man would not refrain from beating her if he got the chance, and he wouldn't show any mercy. Once safely alone in her room, Mayonaka grasped her necklace, fell to her knees and let the tears come. That necklace was all she had left of her family. She would never take it off again.

Once she was able to calm down a little, she began to analyze her situation. She figured she might not get food for days so using her gekai, she slowed down her metabolism to efficiently use every drop of energy she had. She then used her metsuki-kyoudai to study the house. She was right. Hers was the only room in the entire house that even had a speck of dirt in it. According to the smell, it was an out-used chicken coop.

There were three other people in the house. There was the man whom Mayonaka had already met, a woman, obviously the man's wife, and a boy of about 10 years, their son. The man she nicknamed Lucifer. The boy was dubbed Dameon, and the woman was christened Kali. These were not their real names but names she had given them, each one symbolic of the name "devil." She knew if she called them by these names, she would be severely beaten. She considered it a form of training to learn how to endure any amount of physical pain.

Mayonaka looked around her filthy excuse for a room. "Well, time to get to work I s'pose." Mayonaka often talked to herself or inanimate objects. Her mother used to do the same thing. One could say it ran in the family.

Mayonaka stood up and explored the room. There was a small closet containing a broom and a dustpan. 'Relatively useless if the floor you're trying to get dirt off of is made of dirt,' thought Mayonaka. There was nothing interesting under the bed. There was a mirror on the wall next to window, but it was so caked with dirt that she couldn't see anything in it. She made a mental list of what she would need to make the room livable and she used her metsuki-kyoudai to look through the house for cleaning supplies and a laundry room. She found what she needed not too far away from her room. She decided to take a nap. She was going to have a long night while the devils were asleep.

That Night . . .

Mayonaka woke up at dusk and waited for the family to go to sleep. Once she was sure they were all asleep, she got to the task at hand. She picked the lock on her door and gathered the supplies she would need. She put her bed sheets in the wash and got the load going. She thoroughly scrubbed the window and mirror clean so she could actually see something in and through them. What she saw in the mirror scared her. She saw a little girl who had lost all hope. Her eyes only held pain and despair. What had happened to her?

When her load of laundry was done, she hung it to dry. While she waited, she began to formulate a plan to escape from the hellhole she had fallen into. What she didn't know was that it would be years before she would get a chance to put her plan into action.

It was a few hours before her laundry was dry enough to put back on her bed. She scrubbed the walls as clean as she could get them. She put back the cleaning supplies being sure they looked like they hadn't been moved. It would be a few hours until dawn. She decided she wanted some insight into the devils' lives before she had come along. It would be very easy since all barriers fall down when one sleeps. She snaked her mind first into Lucifer's room. She found out why he hated her inner demon so much. Apparently, his eldest son had died in the fight for Sukai against the demon.

Mayonaka wandered throughout the house, memorizing the rooms and corridors. She found the kitchen and stashed some non-perishable food in her closet. Thinking she had done enough for one night, Mayonaka went back to bed to restore her energy.

3 Years Later . . .

"Kodomo-tenma!"

"Yes Lucifer?"

"Get your ass over here right now!" Lucifer had started calling Mayonaka "Kodomo-tenma," or "demon child" after she had started calling them Lucifer, Dameon, and Kali. Last, night, Mayonaka had once again taken food, but before she got a chance to eat it, Dameon had found it in her closet and ratted her out. Mayonaka had been beaten thousands of times before she eventually grew used to the pain, and thanks to her gekai, her wounds healed quickly. However, she was not prepared for what she was about to endure.

"Kodomo-tenma, this is the last time you will steal from my family!"

"You've said that so many times before Lucifer and all you do is beat me. What are you gonna do this time that'll be any different." Without responding, Lucifer grabbed Mayonaka's shoulders and roughly turned her around so her back was to him. He hiked up the back of her shirt over her shoulder blades and took out his kunai knife. Mayonaka wasn't afraid. There was nothing this man could do to put her through any more pain than she was already in.

"This time, I'm going to leave a mark that won't go away." He took the knife and began cutting something into Mayonaka's flesh. The pain was incredible but she only allowed herself to grimace. She would not show any weakness in front of this bastard. When Lucifer had finished, Mayonaka's back was bleeding profusely. She was weak because she hadn't eaten anything for months. Angry tears forced their way out of Mayonaka's eyes as she silently stormed to her room so she could heal on her own. She sat down and let the hot tears come.

Her eyes began to glow red with a bloodlust. She wiped some of the blood from her back onto her fingers and licked them clean, satisfying the Tokage-jigoku. The Tokage-jigoku was the demon of lusts, including bloodlust. When blood was drawn, it gained a bloodlust that increased with the amount of blood lost. This bloodlust could only be satisfied by drinking half of the amount of blood lost, preferably from the one who inflicted the wound.

Mayonaka knew all this because she sometimes snuck out of the house in the middle of the night to keep up with her studies. When Lucifer found out about this, he beat her severely. Mayonaka's eyes went back to normal as her back slowly healed. Because she was so malnourished, the cuts left a very severe looking scar. She cleaned off the blood and tried to get a look at the scar in her mirror. It was difficult since it was reversed, but she could make out the two kanji spelling out "demon dragon" on her back.

"Fine. Just fine." Mayonaka took a red marker from the pack she had stolen from Dameon earlier that year. She traced over her scar with it and, using her gekai, allowed her skin to absorb the ink enough that it would be permanent, forming a tattoo. She then took a blue marker from the same pack and wrote on her lower back the kanji for "angel" and did the same thing, forming another tattoo. She had had enough. She was escaping from that hellhole that night.

The Escape . . .

When Mayonaka was 3, she realized that the Tokage-jigoku was constantly trying to break through the seal that trapped her inside Mayonaka's body. With her gekai, Mayonaka could control how much of the demon got out. For example, Mayonaka could sprout the dragon's wings, grow claws or fangs, or sprout gills or tails like the demon had. And she'd have full control over these new body parts and she could release them one at a time or all at once if she wanted.

Over the past few years, not only did she steal food and do research in the middle of the night, she also continued training. She taught herself how to fly and breath fire and control the beast within her. She also began training on how to reduce her need for blood when she got injured.

"Lets see, I've got blankets, fresh water, my kunai knives and shuriken, not much else I can bring. Lucifer put a barrier around all of the food that I can't get through. I think that's the best I can do for now."

The clock struck midnight. It was November 29. Mayonaka was exactly 7 years old. She had been keeping careful track. It was one of the few things that had kept her sane while in that house. She kissed her necklace for luck and snuck out of the house for the last time.

She got to the edge of Sukai at the base of the mountains. Mayonaka had been training for this night for that past 3 years. She could do it. She slipped her pack into her right hand. She allowed the demon's wings to sprout from her shoulder blades, hiking up the back of her shirt. Mayonaka grimaced in pain. Her back was still raw from the punishment she had received for stealing again. She smiled to herself knowing she'd never have to go through that again.

Mayonaka looked at the tops of the mountains. Not even the birds flew that high. Would she be able to make it? "Haven't got much choice though. Here goes." She closed her eyes and leapt up, opening her wings to catch what little breeze there was. The higher she flew, the colder it got and the harder it got to breathe. She reached the top, higher than she had ever dared to go before, and as she crossed over the peak, she shouted with such enthusiasm that she surprised herself, "FREEDOM!"


	3. Chapter 3

Years 7-11

Konoha…

"She was found near the edge of the forest. She was dressed in rags and covered in small cuts and bruises. She was extremely malnourished so we gave her an IV to at least get her some nutrients. Her leg was broken and there were scars and tattoos on her back. She looks to be about 7 or 8 years old. She probably won't wake up until at the very least, tomorrow. What should we do for now Lord Hokage?"

Mayonaka was laying in a soft bed wearing something hard on her leg and a soft gown-like garment. There was something poking her hand. Wherever she was, it smelled distinctly like disinfectant. She opened her eyes to see a room that was so clean it almost hurt to look at. She looked down at her hand and seeing an IV, she pulled it out. Mayonaka really didn't like needles. She ripped off her blankets to see a cast on her leg. Her gekai had already healed her broken leg so she ripped off the cast with her demon's claws.

"Just keep her here and take care of her until she wakes up." Mayonaka remembered the girl being talked about earlier. Her brain was pleasantly fuzzy because of the painkillers she had been given so she hadn't put two and two together yet.

'A girl with a broken leg? Maybe I can help with my gekai.' She got out of her bed and walked to the door where the voices were coming from. When she opened the door, she saw a very old man in a white and red robe, and what appeared to be a nurse. They stared at her dumbfounded. "Um, I think I can help out that girl with the broken leg. I can heal people really well."

The nurse regained her composure and bluntly stated, "You shouldn't be awake, let alone walking!"

"Why? I'm perfectly fine."

"You're the girl we were talking about. You broke your leg. How are you walking?"

"Um…I used my kekei-genkai." Slowly, what happened came back to Mayonaka as the painkillers wore off. She had climbed a tree to see how far away she was from Konoha, lost her balance and fell. She must have finally passed out from exhaustion after breaking her leg from the fall. "Am I in Konoha?"

The old man finally spoke up. "Yes, you are in Konoha. Now where did you come from and why are you here?"

"I came from Sukai and I'm never going back. You may have heard about me from my parents. I'm Tenshi, Mayonaka."

"Ah, yes, I have heard of you. Mayonaka, why did you leave Sukai?"

"Those scars you saw on my back weren't self inflicted. When my parents died, I was put under the care of this abusive family. I don't really want to talk about it. I'd rather just forget about it altogether."

At this point, the old man asked the nurse to leave, for he wished to speak privately with Mayonaka. Before she left, the nurse stuck the IV back into Mayonaka's hand. As soon as the door closed behind her, Mayonaka pulled it back out and licked the wound. This put a small smile on the old man's face.

"A rebel I see." Mayonaka gave a small nod. "Well we need to get down to business. You're the girl who has the Tokage-jigoku's soul inside your body. Am I correct?" Mayonaka's hand found her necklace, grasped it tightly and gave the tiniest of nods. She was surprised the man had seen it. "Then your parents must have told you about the boy with the Kyuubi inside of him?" She nodded again. "His name is Naruto Uzumaki. You are not allowed to speak of the demon inside of him. You cannot tell him either. He does not know of it. Do you think you can keep that promise?" Mayonaka nodded enthusiastically, glad to know there was finally someone out there to relate to.

"Um…sir?"

"Yes Mayonaka-chan?"

"Does anyone else know about my…um…demon?"

"No. I am the only one." Mayonaka smiled.

'A fresh start!' she thought.

"Now, to find someone for you to live with…"

"NO! No please no. Can't I live on my own in an apartment or something?! Just please, no more foster families." The old man seemed a little surprised at her response but smiled kindly at her nonetheless.

"Alright. I suppose that would be acceptable. Naruto does the same thing. Only on one condition though."

"What's that?"

"You stay in the same complex as Naruto. There is an open apartment across the hall from his."

"You got yourself a deal!"

* * *

Mayonaka walked down the road to her new apartment complex. Apparently, the man she had been talking to had been the Hokage. He gave her enough money to get the apartment and pay one month's rent. He also bought her some new clothes and he gave her enough money to buy some of the essentials. The rest she had to pay for with money she got from a job or if she got into the financial aide program for all children under the age of 18, like Naruto was in.

When she got to the complex, the landlord greeted her with a smile. "You must be Mayonaka."

"Yes, sir. I'd like to rent an apartment, preferably apartment number 13, the one across from Naruto's."

"Yes, of course. The Lord Hokage told me you'd be coming. Do you have payment?" Mayonaka handed the man the money. "Thank you kindly. Here is your key."

"Thank you sir." She headed up the stairs to her new home. On the way, she encountered a blonde-haired boy in an orange jumpsuit type thingy. He wore goggles on his head like a headband and he had blue eyes. Mayonaka smiled at him, which seemed to surprise him. He smiled back and waved.

Mayonaka reached her room and went inside. It was like heaven, only better. There was a small entryway that opened up into a living room. To her left was a couch and to her right was a TV. In front of the couch was a glass coffee table. At the far wall was a nice big window. There was a doorway leading to a kitchen fully supplied with pots and pans. Closer to the front of the room was a door to a bedroom. It had one twin sized bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. This room also had a window. The bedroom connected to the bathroom, which had the essentials; a tub, a shower, and a toilet. The carpet was plushy, the walls and windows were clean, and life was good.

* * *

Mayonaka was walking back home from the financial aide center. They had had room for just one more person. She was lucky. She passed Ichiraku's Ramen Shop, inhaled the intoxicating aroma, and realized she still hadn't eaten. She had already bought the essentials so she decided to treat herself to some ramen and pocky, an indulgence she had not been allowed to have since she was three years old. 'Time to pig out!'

"Yes? How may I help you?"

"Um…I'll have the endless ramen bowl and a box of pocky please." Mayonaka paid the man, sat down and waited for the ramen to cook. The blonde boy she saw from earlier came in and sat down next to Mayonaka. He ordered the endless ramen bowl as well, just as Mayonaka's ramen and pocky came. She grabbed some chopsticks and got ready to eat the first real food she'd had in months.

"Hi! You must be the move-in at the complex, the one across from me. By the way, I'm Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?" Mayonaka's face had been inches from her bowl, mouth wide open and ramen dangling from her chopsticks. She had returned her metabolism to normal so that she could eat as much as she wanted with no consequences. Her stomach was screaming with pain. She slowly closed her mouth, and turned her head to face the boy.

"Um…hi. I'm Mayonaka Tenshi. I kinda need to eat this ramen, like, right now or I swear to God, I'm gonna die of hunger." She barely got the last word out of her mouth before stuffing it with ramen. The world disappeared and all Mayonaka could hear was the Alleluia chorus singing, "Praise to the Lord Our God!" Her taste buds went on a trip to heaven with a pit stop on cloud nine. When she opened her eyes, all that was left of her ramen was the broth. Naruto was staring at her with an appalled look on his face. She sat up, drank the broth from her bowl, and ordered another.

"What are you staring at Naruto?"

"I've never seen a girl eat ramen like that before; you practically inhaled it!"

"Well I haven't eaten anything for months."

"Why not?"

"Long story. Don't want to talk about it. Just want to stuff my face with ramen till I can't move."

"Alright." Mayonaka opened her pocky and stuck one in her mouth.

"So, you're Naruto Uzumaki huh? What's your story then?"

"Well, all I'll say for now is that I'm gonna be Hokage someday. Believe it!"

"I do believe it." Both of their ramen had come so they shut up and ate. Naruto stopped after his 5th bowl but Mayonaka kept going. While she waited for her 8th bowl, she finished off her pocky.

"I have never seen a girl eat so much food in one sitting!"

"Then I guess you've seen everything now huh." Mayonaka's 8th bowl came and disappeared down her throat. She was pleasantly overfull, almost so full she couldn't move. She sped up her metabolism slightly so she would burn off all that ramen. "Let's head back to the complex. Eating all that food really wore me out."

"Sounds good to me."

The Attempt…

Mayonaka went back to the complex on her own. Naruto had run into a pink-haired girl whom she knew she wouldn't get along with in the future. She decided to go back on her own. She unlocked her apartment door, went inside, and began putting away her groceries. She put away spices and seasonings and other food items in the kitchen, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and other toiletries in the bathroom, and clothes in the closet in her room. She was sitting on the couch enjoying the silence when it finally hit her; her whole family was dead and she was alone.

While she was under the Devils' roof for 3 years, she had never had time to actually grieve her family's death. Now that she had a life of luxury, she wasn't distracted by the need to survive so the pain built up over so many years hit her full on. She broke down and started crying, not caring who heard her. She cried for a full hour, eventually running out of tears. After a while, she stopped and curled into a fetal position on the floor, her whole body trembling as she gulped down fresh air. She was capable of enduring any amount of physical pain, but emotional pain was less known to her.

Because of how sudden and intense the pain was, Mayonaka couldn't think clearly. 'My whole family is dead. I am alone. No one loves me and I have no one to love. The friendship I encountered in this village is fake, just like when I was three. Everyone hates me. I am a monster whom everyone fears. I'd be better off dead.' Mayonaka spent a few hours trying to decide the best way to carry out her suicide. She decided to drown herself in a river she knew about between Konoha and Suna. She wanted people to think she fell in and drowned accidentally instead of being weak enough to give in to death. She waited until midnight and then set out to kill herself.

* * *

She had reached the river without having any second thoughts. She jumped in with the full intent of not coming back out. Because of how often she snuck out at night in the previous years, she could see pretty well in the darkness. While underwater, she saw a stone with the kanji for freedom on it. She lifted the stone and found a small dark tunnel leading to God knows where. 'Well, s'pose I have time for one last adventure before I die,' thought Mayonaka.

She sprouted the Tokage-jigoku's gills and began to swim down the tunnel. It was just wide enough for her to reach back and pull the stone back over the hole. She slowly worked her way through the rocky tunnel, getting small cuts, scratches and bruises that healed instantly. After about half an hour, Mayonaka reached a dead end and there wasn't enough room to turn around. 'Well this sucks,' she thought, punching the wall in front of her out of frustration. The "wall" lifted up slightly and fell back down. She realized it was the way out.

She was tired and sore from swimming through ice-cold water in such a tight space, weighed down by her clothes. She had to muster up all of her strength to push the heavy rock out of the way. She kicked her way free from the tunnel and broke through the surface of the water, abandoning her now unneeded gills. She climbed out of the water and lied down on the ground and waited to gain her strength back. She opened her eyes and saw a multitude of glowing rocks hanging from the ceiling, hundreds of feet above her. She also noticed that she was in a dome-like structure. It was relatively humid and warm and many trees surrounded her. In the middle was a large lake, apparently the water where she had come from. There was enough room in the dome for a small village. She stood up to get a better view of her surroundings. She couldn't help but whisper to herself in awe, "It's beautiful!"

As she was slowly spinning on the spot, she saw a ladder near the wall that reached up to the ceiling. Mayonaka's curiosity got the better of her and she began climbing the ladder. At the top was a small hatch leading to…the roof? Mayonaka had no way of telling. She opened the hatch and was greeted with a sandy blast of cold air. With her wet clothes, this was quite a shock to Mayonaka's system. Nevertheless, Mayonaka crawled out of the hatch onto a sort of platform. There was a railing to keep someone from falling but it could've been easily climbed over.

Mayonaka looked down over the railing and saw an endless black abyss, falling down into nothingness. On the other side of the trench, which surrounded the entire dome, was a wall of sand. She was in a desert. Off in the distance, lights faintly glimmered. "That must be Suna." She was momentarily distracted from her death wish by the beauty of her surroundings.

Mayonaka suddenly remembered what she had gone there to do. She looked down at the trench again and figured it would be easier to jump. She climbed up on the rail, ready to plunge to her death, when something stopped her; the intense emotions of hatred, bloodlust and loneliness. They were so powerful that Mayonaka could've sworn the person emanating them was right beside her but when she looked, there was no one there. She then realized, these emotions were coming from someone in Suna. "I'm not alone. Someone else knows how I feel!" Mayonaka tried to stretch out her mind to comfort the troubled soul, letting them know they weren't alone, but her drained strength wouldn't allow her.

Tired, but feeling better, Mayonaka went back inside the dome. She lied down on the soft grass trying to regain her strength by sleeping. She realized there was no way to get comfortable in soaking wet clothes. "Well, no one's around and no one could get here without wings or gills. I have nothing to be ashamed of." Mayonaka undressed and hung her wet clothes on a nearby tree branch. She lied down on the grass once more drifted off into sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The Academy…

When she woke up, she put on her now dry clothes and climbed out the hatch to figure out what time it was. The sun had just barely begun to rise. Mayonaka made her way back though the underwater tunnel toward Konoha. When she got out of the river she jogged back to her apartment complex in her again sopping wet clothes, and went inside her apartment. She undressed and put her clothes in the dryer hoping they'd be dry in time for her to start off her day. Mayonaka took a shower and upon looking at herself in the mirror realized, she needed a change in appearance to symbolize the new beginning she had been given. She grabbed a kunai knife from her bed and cut her hair to shoulder length. She also gave herself bangs so people could see more of her face. "There. That's better." Upon walking out the door, Mayonaka ran into Naruto. "Hey Naruto! Wha—"

"Where were you last night?! I got home and you were gone! You even left your apartment unlocked! And what happened to your hair?!"

"Last night…I had to resolve a personal matter. As for my hair, I cut it."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I thought I needed a new look. What, don't you like it?"

"Well yeah, it's just different."

"So, where ya headed?"

"The academy."

"The wha?" Mayonaka hadn't heard of any "academy."

"Yeah. Haven't you registered yet? It's the only place for you to learn how to be a ninja."

"Um…no I haven't."

"I'll help you sign up when we get there."

"Thanks Naruto." Mayonaka smiled brightly at the blonde boy as she stuck a piece of pocky from the box she had been carrying with her into her mouth. Mayonaka had also been carrying a large-ish water bottle with her and Naruto just noticed it.

"Why do you have that water bottle with you?"

"Oh, this? I've got a minor cold so I'm trying to flush it out of my system." Swimming in the cold water last night had really taken a toll on Mayonaka's body.

"Oooooooooooh……let's pretend I don't understand what you mean." Mayonaka giggled at this.

"I feel like I'm getting a cold so I'm helping out my lymphatic system by drinking lots of fluids that will help clear out the infection." Naruto got a blank look on his face and appeared to be waiting for Mayonaka to explain what she meant. Mayonaka sighed. This was exactly the problem she had had before. She was too smart for her own good. "The water might make the cold go away faster."

"Oh. Why didn't you say so?" By now, they had reached the academy and were looking for a sensei to get Mayonaka registered. "Hey! Iruka-sensei!"

"Oh, hey there Naruto! You're early. What's up?"

"Iruka-sensei, this is my friend Mayonaka. She's new to Konoha and wants to go to the academy." Mayonaka only smiled at the man once and then stared down at her feet.

"Mayonaka," she looked up at the man, frightened he would say she couldn't go, "are you in the financial aide program like Naruto?" Mayonaka gave her head a quick nod. "Well then they'll cover the cost. So all we have to do now is see what level you're at."

That day, while Naruto was at the academy, Mayonaka took a written exam to determine where she should start her studies. She finished it by lunchtime while it usually took kids all day to complete it. Iruka-sensei looked over it while he ate lunch. Mayonaka was too nervous to eat. Butterflies had erupted in her stomach a while ago and they wouldn't go away. "Mayonaka-chan, could you please come into the classroom?" Her heart skipped a beat.

"Yes Iruka-sensei?"

"Mayonaka, you got a perfect score on a test that even some genin have failed. If you had the right skills, you could become a genin right now if you wanted to. Where would you like to be placed?"

"I want to be in Naruto's class, with kids my own age."

"Okay. Whatever you want. You can join us for our afternoon classes."

"Thank you Iruka-sensei!" Mayonaka ran out of the classroom and found Naruto at Ichiraku's Ramen, finishing his lunch. "Naruto, I'm in! And I'm in your class!"

"Mayonaka that's great! That's the fastest anyone's ever completed the exam before."

"We should head back. Afternoon classes will be starting in a few minutes."

"But I haven't finished my ramen!"

"Oh well! I'll make you some later!"

"Really?!"

"Yeah, whatever." Mayonaka grabbed Naruto's hand and dragged him back to the academy. When she got there, her lack of sleep from the night before finally caught up with her. "I'm gonna sit in the back for today Naruto."

"Okay, I think that would be better since you're the new kid." Mayonaka figured she could have a nap unnoticed at the back of the room. She sat in a far corner next to a window. A boy with brown eyes and brown hair tied up in a ponytail sat down to her right as she took a drink from her water bottle.

"Damn I wish this was an energy drink or something instead of water," Mayonaka said to herself.

The brown haired boy spoke up, "If I told you where to get some energy drinks, would you shut up so I can have a nap?"

Mayonaka took out a pen to write it on her hand, "Yes, besides, I was gonna take a nap anyway. Oh, and you have to tell me your name before you can take that nap of yours. I'm Mayonaka Tenshi."

"Fine. You can get these "monster" brand energy drinks in tall cans at the supermarket down the road. My mom tried to get me to drink them but I don't react well to caffeine apparently. I'm Shikamaru Nara."

Mayonaka wrote down the address and name of the supermarket Shikamaru told her about so she wouldn't forget about it later. "Nice to meet you Shikamaru. Now if you don't mind, I need to catch up on some sleep." With that, Mayonaka let her head fall onto her arms and immediately fell asleep, her water bottle inches away from her ear.

Shikamaru looked at her for a second and thought to himself, 'She's better at that than I am. I think this one won't be as troublesome as the others.' Shikamaru also put his head in his arms and fell asleep.

* * *

"Mayonaka! Wake up! School's over! We can go home now! MAYONAKA, WAKE UP!" The shrill voice of Naruto Uzumaki was relentlessly tearing apart Mayonaka's eardrums along with the banging of her water bottle against the desk inches away from her face.

"Naruto, what the hell do you want?" Mayonaka groggily sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. There was only one kid in the room besides her and Naruto. "Hey, Naruto, who's that black haired kid sulking in the corner?"

"Oh him? He's Sasuke Uchiha. Don't worry about him. He always stays a while after school and studies."

"His hairstyle looks like the feathers on a cockatoo's head." As Mayonaka gathered her supplies, Naruto stared at Sasuke's hair trying to see what she meant. "Well, should we head out then?"

"What? Oh, yeah." On their way home, Naruto ran after the pink haired girl leaving Mayonaka on her own again. Not wanting to go back to her apartment just yet, she decided to go get some of the energy drinks Shikamaru had told her about. It took her a while to decipher the drool smudged ink mark on her hand. After purchasing the drinks, she decided to take the longer but more scenic route home through the forest. On her way back, she saw a sleeping Shikamaru fall from a tree. He was now awake and although he wasn't vocally screaming in pain, Mayonaka could feel and hear his pain and thoughts. She ran up to him wanting to help. "Shikamaru, are you okay?" He was grimacing, fighting back the scream that was clawing to get out of his throat. He was also clutching his leg, which sat at a strange angle, obviously broken.

"Yeah Mayonaka, I'm fine. Just help me up."

"Shikamaru, I'm not stupid, and I'm not blind. I can see your leg is broken."

"Well there is no way I'm letting a girl carry me to the hospital."

"There won't be any need for that." He looked very confused. "Move your hands out of the way. I need to set the bone." He reluctantly pulled his hands off his leg. "Brace yourself, this may hurt…a lot." Shikamaru closed his eyes and braced himself, letting out a small cry of pain as Mayonaka quickly pulled his leg back into place. She then gently gripped his shin where the break was and healed the bone and torn tissue. When he realized what she was doing, Shikamaru opened his eyes. Her veins were popping out all over her hands and up her arms and her eyes were completely white because she was looking through his first layers of skin, searching to see if she had healed all the torn tissue. Shikamaru instinctively tried to pull away but he was already flat against the tree trunk.

"Better?" Mayonaka's appearance had returned to normal and Shikamaru's leg was as good as new.

"What did you just do to me?"

"I healed you."

"How? Only ninja trained to be medical ninjas could be that good at healing, but no medical ninja could be so good at such a young age. And why did your appearance change like that?"

"It's part of my kekei-genkai. When I'm healing something, the veins in my hands and arms pop out and my eyes go completely white while I'm looking for more wounds under the surface."

"Wait, where did you say you were from?"

"I'm from Sukai, and I'm never going back."

"You're that girl that got the Tokage-jigoku sealed in her?"

"Please don't hate me. I can control it. I'm not a demon. I'm merely the container for one. And don't tell anyone else."

"How about you tell me your story and I'll decide whether or not to hate you from there."

"Okay. How much do you already know? And how do you know?"

"I know that you've got that demon and that your clan died. My parents had been sent to defend Sukai from the attck, since our villages were allies and all. They told me about you."

"Okay. Fair enough. Well, my life has been so horrible that the devil himself would've cried for his mommy if he had been put in my place, and that's putting it mildly."

"Okay…you've caught my attention."

"It's a really long story. Are you sure wanna hear it?"

"Positive." Mayonaka told Shikamaru the whole deal. All about her kekei-genkai, how her family had sacrificed themselves for the village, how Lucifer, Kali, and Dameon had abused her, and finally her escape. It took her a full hour to explain it all. It felt good to finally get it all out for once. She felt like she could trust the boy. "That's pretty amazing. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. Can I see the tattoo?"

"You can see the one on my lower back." She lifted her shirt slightly to show him the tattoo. He thought it was incredibly cool. Mayonaka giggled and thought, 'Isn't that just like a boy.'

"I think you're okay. You're much less troublesome than the other girls." Mayonaka giggled again. She liked him. They had started walking back to Mayonaka's apartment. Shikamaru was ginger on his leg at first, but quickly realized there wasn't anything wrong with it anymore. While she was walking, Mayonaka saw something in an alleyway. She silently stuck out her arm, stopping Shikamaru. "What is it Mayo—"

"Shhhh! I think I saw something in that alley." They stood for a moment and Mayonaka saw something move in the alley again. She dropped her arm and crouched down, stretching out her arm towards the alley.

"Mayonaka-chan, what are you—"

"Shut up and crouch down like me."

"Whatever." Shikamaru crouched down like her and stuck out his arm. Slowly, a black kitten with a white belly and white tip on her tail walked out of the dark alley to Mayonaka's hand. Mayonaka scooped her up in her arms and started petting the purring creature. "You must have a way with animals."

"I guess so."

"Anyway, I better get home before my parents freak out."

"'Kay, but before you go, can you tell me what Sasuke's deal is?"

"Oh man, what a drag; another Sasuke fangirl."

"A fangirl? For the emo cockatoo? Eww! No way in hell!"

"Not what I expected, but it's better than 'Oh Sasuke-kun, you're my hero!'"

"I can't imagine someone liking the emo cockatoo."

"Why do you call him 'the emo cockatoo?'"

"He's emo…and his hair looks like the feathers on a cockatoo's head."

"He has a right to be emo. His older brother killed his whole clan."

"My whole clan died and I'm not emo am I?"

"Good point. See you tomorrow."

"See ya." Mayonaka walked back to her apartment with the small kitten falling asleep in her arms. "What should I call you?" She got to the complex and ran into Naruto.

"Hey, Mayonaka, where'd you go off to after school?"

"Oh, nowhere. Who is that pink haired girl you keep running after," she smirked, "your girlfriend?"

Naruto's face turned beet red. "No! She's just a friend!"

"Oh. Okay then." She was still smirking. "So what's her name?"

Naruto got a slightly dreamy look on his face. "Sakura Haruno."

"Sakura Haruno huh? Well, good luck with that. I'm going to bed because I think I might fall asleep standing up."

"'Kay, 'night."

"'Night." Mayonaka went up to her apartment and made herself some ramen for dinner. She had sugar donuts for dessert and she went to bed after feeding her new cat, which she had called Kurohyou, or black panther.

Exposure…

Mayonaka was taking her early morning jog. The sun hadn't risen yet and she was ten years old now. She'd done this ever since that night she had attempted to kill herself. She'd get up before the sun and jog around the village. When it rose, she'd go back to her apartment, shower, feed herself and Kurohyou and get ready for school. On those days when she was just so entirely tired and spacey, she'd also drink one of the energy drinks Shikamaru told her about.

Shikamaru and Mayonaka were good friends still. Whenever she ran out of things to do to keep her entertained, she'd find him and they'd go watch the clouds together. He never told anyone her secret and they both kept the broken leg incident strictly between them. Just as she thought, Mayonaka didn't get along well with Sakura. She was too girly and too obsessed over Sasuke. Sakura wouldn't have cared if the emo cockatoo had killed a man. She'd still love him. It made Mayonaka sick. It was exactly the same with Ino, a blonde girl.

As for Sasuke, Mayonaka loved bugging him and pissing him off. Every time she saw him, she called him the emo cockatoo. He'd yell at her as she just stood there laughing. She knew he secretly liked her because she was different than the other girls, but she wouldn't date him for the world.

There was also a girl with black hair and lavender eyes that Mayonaka had met only a few months ago. She hadn't noticed the girl before because she was so quiet. Her name was Hinata Hyuuga. She had a huge crush on Naruto and recently, Mayonaka had been working on getting the two together, secretly of course.

Mayonaka had made friends with almost everyone in the village. Whenever she was too lazy to make her own food, which was quite frequently, she went to Ichiraku's Ramen Shop and ate almost their whole stock. Naruto often challenged her to ramen eating contests, but she always won, never gaining a pound thanks to her unusually high metabolism.

She was also a frequent shopper at the supermarket. She quickly ran out of the energy drinks she needed. She also ran out of cooking supplies quickly because Shikamaru often came over to her apartment to eat dinner. He didn't like his mother's cooking much, but Mayonaka could easily whip up some great lo mein or another dish that tasted as if it was made by a professional chef.

Mayonaka could now see the sun on the horizon so she headed back home. She got ready for school and headed out of her apartment. As always, Naruto had just gotten out of his. They always walked to school together. Today was different though. Halfway there, they ran into Shikamaru. He was sprinting towards them and he looked scared out of his mind. He was still in his pajamas and his hair wasn't even pulled up. Mayonaka got worried. "Shikamaru, what's wrong?"

"Mayonaka! I'm glad I found you." He was short of breath like he'd been running full speed for a long time. "That man you told me about, Lucifer…"

"What about him?"

"He's come here! He found out you're here and he's looking for you."

"How'd you find out?"

"My parents. They were talking about it over breakfast and I overheard them. Mayonaka, this guy's a jounin. If he finds you—"

"I'll kill him." Mayonaka had a dead-set look in her eye. This was the chance she had been waiting for; a chance to get her revenge on this man. Naruto was hopelessly confused.

"Mayonaka, what is Shikamaru talking about? Who is this guy?"

"Naruto, I'll tell you later. Right now, I've got some unfinished business to tend to."

"Mayonaka, if you fight him, you'll d—"

"Shikamaru shut up! I'm going to kill this man for what he did to me. If I was normal, I wouldn't be here right now; I would've died in that house." Seeing the worried look on Shikamaru's face, Mayonaka tried to comfort him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine, I promise. While I'm waiting for Lucifer, you can tell Naruto what this is all about." Shikamaru nodded his head and began to tell Naruto what Mayonaka had told him years ago, minus the part about the demon. While they talked, Mayonaka scanned the village with her mind, looking for the man who had made her life a living hell. He was near the academy, waiting for her. She confidently jogged over to the academy to find Lucifer threatening Iruka-sensei to tell him where she was.

"Lucifer!" She had his undivided attention, as well as Iruka's. "Leave him alone. It's me you want."

"Kodomo-tenma! Get your ass over her right now! I'm taking you back to Sukai!"

"I'm never going back there. The only way I would go back is if I was dead."

Iruka-sensei tried to stop the impending fight, "Mayonaka, leave this to me. You can't handle him ye—"

"Iruka-sensei, please, stay out of this. This is something I need to resolve on my own." By now Naruto and Shikamaru had caught up with her.

"You seem overconfident Kodomo-tenma. Don't you remember all those times you could have tried to kill me but you didn't? You knew you could never win."

"No. I was too weak then, deprived of food and sleep because you knew that was the only way to keep me under control. Now I'm well nourished and fully capable of killing, which is what I intend to do." Mayonaka got into her fighting stance, ready for attack, fully aware of the growing crowd. Lucifer attacked. He ran up to her pulling out his kunai knife. Mayonaka just stood there, waiting for him. Naruto was yelling at her to move but she knew what she was doing. Lucifer came at her and stabbed her in the side with his kunai knife. She smiled as Lucifer jumped back.

"Thanks Lucifer. I needed that." She pulled out the kunai and blood poured out. The wound quickly healed without leaving a mark. Mayonaka's eyes glowed red with bloodlust and a look of terror appeared on Lucifer's face. Mayonaka charged at him with the kunai in hand. She had begun to let the Tokage-jigoku out. Her teeth grew sharp and her nails grew into claws. She relentlessly attacked Lucifer, biting and clawing with no restraint. He was able to push her off using all of his strength. Both were covered in blood, all of it Lucifer's. Mayonaka was breathing heavily as Lucifer slowly stood.

"Had enough Lucifer?" He merely got up and walked out of the village. He didn't care anymore. It would be easier just to forget about the beast that had lived within his household for three years.

Mayonaka then realized, everyone was staring and clutching their children protectively. They were afraid of her. She ran back to her apartment, face in her hands to hide the silent tears running down her cheeks. She locked herself in her bedroom and leapt onto her bed. She hugged her pillow and let the tears flow. Someone knocked on her apartment door, probably the Hokage saying she couldn't stay in the village any longer. She didn't care. Right now she just wanted to cry and let it all out. She was surprised when someone's hand gently touched her shoulder, almost in a comforting way. She looked up to see Iruka-sensei, Shikamaru, and Naruto standing over her. She was still covered in blood but she was otherwise back to normal. "I'll pack up my things and go."

"Mayonaka-chan, what are you talking about?" Iruka-sensei seemed confused.

"Well, you want me to leave, don't you?"

"No, we don't want you to leave. Shikamaru here told us what that man did to you after you family's death and we believe you had every right to want to kill him. You just surprised us is all."

"You mean, you don't care that I almost killed a man?"

"Mayonaka, how could you think that?! Of course we don't care. We've known you for 3 years now. We thought you were great before this, why should that change?"

"Naruto I…" Mayonaka couldn't think of what to say. It was the nicest thing she had ever heard. She couldn't think of how to express herself in words, so she gave Naruto a tight hug, catching him off guard. "Thank you Naruto. That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me."

Naruto was blushing furiously. "Uh…anytime Mayonaka-chan." She released him from the hug and looked at Shikamaru. He hadn't said anything and had been staring at his feet the whole time.

"Shikamaru, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry for telling them. I thought it might help. I know you told me not t—" Mayonaka cut him off with a hug. She knew he had a crush on her and it wasn't new either. After the day she healed his leg, he'd developed a crush on her. He was blushing like there was no tomorrow and a look of shock was plastered on his face as Mayonaka pulled away from the hug after quietly whispering in his ear, "Thanks for not telling them about the demon." Mayonaka pulled away and looked Shikamaru straight in the face. "I'm glad you told them. Thanks guys. I needed that. Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes Mayonaka-chan?"

"I think it would be better if I stayed home from school today. I need some time to think things over."

"Sure. I'll have Naruto bring you your homework. Alright boys, let's head back to the academy." After they left, Mayonaka took a hot bubble bath and made some ramen for herself. She sat on her couch in her warm bathrobe while eating ramen and pocky, and watching TV. She knew she could get through this. She had friends that would stay by her side no matter what, and that made any burden bearable. That night, she slept the best she had in years, her conflicts finally resolved. The next day, everything was the same. It was almost as if the previous day hadn't happened. Sure there were a select few in the village who didn't want her around them anymore, but she could deal with that. She wasn't alone anymore, and for the first time since she was three, she was happy again. She remembered what it felt like to want to be alive.


	5. Chapter 5

Year 12

After Summer Vacation…

Over the summer, Mayonaka had gone off into the wilderness to train. After all, this was the year they were going to be tested to become genin. She had returned home the night before the first day of school at around 11:30 pm. In front of her door were gifts from her friends to welcome her home. She had been gone for over 4 months and people missed her. From Naruto she got 2 coupons for free ramen at Ichiraku's Ramen. Shikamaru got her a box of pocky. Chouji got her a bag of her favorite flavored chips, sour cream and cheddar. Hinata got her some drawing supplies. Mayonaka loved to draw in her free time. Her work was hung all over her apartment. She pretty much drew whatever was around her. Sasuke got her a chocolate bar. Mayonaka was a total chocoholic. Iruka-sensei got her a book on training that was written for jounin level ninja. Shino left her a gorgeous preserved butterfly and Kiba got some cat toys for Kurohyou. Kiba had been caring for Kurohyou while Mayonaka was training.

Mayonaka gathered up her gifts and went into her apartment. She took a shower, enjoying the warm water. While she was training in the woods, she could only shower under ice-cold waterfalls. She had also realized that her hair was much easier to manage when it was up in a ponytail. She still left some hair hanging in front of her right eye because it wouldn't reach the hair tie. She changed completely as a person. She was more happy and confident. She was also stronger physically. Mayonaka had also gained full control of her demon.

After showering she went straight to bed. She was exhausted. She had been training from sunup to sundown for 4 months. She had lived off of fish she caught using her jutsu. If she didn't catch any, she didn't eat. She fell asleep before her head hit the pillow.

The next morning when she got up, she decided to change her outfit. Instead of her normal jeans, she put on some faded denim shorts. She also put on a black sports bra. She was already almost a B-cup. Over that was a mesh short-sleeved shirt that stopped about 3 inches above her belly button. And over that went a loose, ripped up tee shirt that was a dingy pink color. It stopped about 2 inches above the mesh shirt and started just above her cleavage. On the front was a silhouette of a dragon's head and a black heart next to it. On the back was the kanji for love. Her necklace was beneath the mesh shirt so the gourd shaped pendant couldn't be seen.

She walked out of her apartment and saw Naruto for the first time in months. "Naruto! It's so good to see you! How's everything in Konoha been while I was gone?" She gave Naruto a quick bear hug while she was talking. When she pulled away Naruto got a look of shock on his face.

"Mayonaka! You've got…I mean…you look…ummm," Mayonaka cocked an eyebrow as if she had no idea what he was trying to say. Of course she knew perfectly well. Over the summer she had hit puberty…hard. Her chest and hips had practically exploded and she had grown a good four inches making her now about 4'10". Yet somehow she still looked proportionate. She just loved watching Naruto squirm. He was still trying to find the best way to say what he wanted, "ummm…I mean…what happened to you?!" Mayonaka burst out laughing at Naruto's beet red face.

"Puberty happened that's what."

Naruto was blushing furiously, "Oh, right. Well, it's good to see you again. How was your training?"

"It was great! I've gotten a lot stronger and faster." They started walking towards the academy. On their way they saw every one of her friends. She thanked them all for the gifts and even refrained from calling Sasuke an emo cockatoo since it was the first time they'd seen each other in months. At the academy they got the news that the final exams would be in a week and they should train beforehand. Life was good.

Genin or Not? Who Passed and Who Failed?

It was the day after the final exam. Mayonaka had passed with flying colors of course, but she worried about Naruto. They had used his weakest jutsu, the replication jutsu, to test if he would make it. She hadn't seen him at all afterwards. Not even at the ramen shop. She couldn't sleep at all that night. She had walked to the academy on her own.

She watched as all the new genin came into the classroom. Finally, Naruto walked in. She ran up to him and gave him a hug. "Naruto you passed! That's so great!"

"Thanks Mayonaka. Glad to see you passed too." Naruto was about to sit down next to Sasuke when Ino came bursting through the door. She seemed to be absolutely ecstatic about something. 'Well aren't we a fucking ray of sunshine. Let's see what this is all about shall we?' Mayonaka racked Ino's brain and began to hear a little chant going through her head, 'Sakura didn't pass! Sakura didn't pass!' Mayonaka smiled to herself. Not only did Naruto pass but also Sakura failed? This day was too good to be true.

All of a sudden, Ino pushed Naruto out of the seat next to Sasuke. "No way Uzumaki, Uchiha's mine!" all of the fangirls in the room looked up at the word "Uchiha" and joined Ino. Naruto got up on the desk and glared at Sasuke, right up in his face. "Stop glaring at Sasuke, Naruto!"

"Ino, shut the fuck up will you? Your shrill little voice is giving me a headache." Ino glared daggers at Mayonaka who just calmly stood there sipping her energy drink. Unfortunately for Naruto, a boy accidentally bumped him from behind. Naruto fell forward and Sasuke's lips broke his fall. Mayonaka's drink came spraying out of her nose as she burst out laughing. She fell onto the floor unable to stand because of how hysterical this was. She then realized her grave mistake and stopped laughing instantly. Half the fangirls went after her; the other half went after Naruto.

Iruka-sensei broke up the fight when he came in. Mayonaka sat down in the closest seat, which happened to be right next to Sasuke. Naruto sat down on her right. Bruises were already beginning to appear on his face. Iruka-sensei began assigning people to their teams. "Team number 7, Uzumaki, Naruto," Naruto looked up, a hopeful gleam in his eye, "Tenshi, Mayonaka," Naruto and Mayonaka high-fived each other glad to be in the same squad, "and Uchiha, Sasuke!" Both Naruto and Mayonaka slammed their foreheads on their desks with a loud bang. Mayonaka saw the smallest of smiles form on Sasuke's lips.

* * *

"Great. Just great. I knew it was all too good to be true. Sakura failed and Naruto passed and then, I get the emo cockatoo on my squad."

"Hey, at least you didn't get that Ino bitch like me. Man, how troublesome."

"True." Mayonaka and Shikamaru were sitting up in a tree catching up on what had happened while she was gone. Shikamaru had gotten Ino and Chouji on his team. He had just barely escaped getting a lecture from Ino on what they were going to do as a team. He had said that it would be bearable thanks to Chouji, but if Chouji weren't there, he would've quit. Mayonaka was able to escape having lunch with Sasuke. She didn't need him staring at her ass and flirting with her all day. "We ought to get back to the academy soon so we can get our squad leaders."

"Yeah. I guess you're right. Mayonaka?"

"Yeah?"

"What's on your necklace anyway? I've always wondered that." Mayonaka grasped her necklace out of habit. With the kind of necklace she had, one that would point you in the direction of your true love, you weren't supposed to let anyone see the pendant until you found said true love.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just something to remember my parents by." Shikamaru could tell she was hiding something but he knew better than to dig deeper if she didn't want to say something. "C'mon. We should head back."

New Sensei…

Mayonaka and Shikamaru headed back to the academy together. On the way they both ran into their squads and separated ways. Shikamaru's squad leader, Asuma-sensei, was already there when they arrived, as were all the other squad leaders, except team 7's. After an hour of waiting, they became restless. Naruto got up and took an eraser from the chalkboard and the stepstool from the corner of the room. Mayonaka soon realized what he was doing and stood up enthusiastically.

"Ooh! Let me help!" They set the eraser in the door so that the next person who walked through, their sensei, would get hit in the head with it. "Naruto, if we get in trouble for this, I blame you."

"I think you're both idiots." Sasuke finally showed some sign of life after an hour of not moving even an inch.

"Well no one asked you, Emo Cockatoo!"

"Stop calling me that!"

"Make me!"

"I will!" The sound of a sliding door stopped them both in their tracks as they looked for the victim of the prank. A jounin with silver hair, a blue mask over the lower half of his face, and his headband over his left eye walked through the door and got hit in the head with the eraser.

"Yes! Direct hit!" Mayonaka and Naruto high-fived.

"My first impression of you, you're all idiots." Mayonaka looked dumbfounded at the man, picked up the eraser and threw it at Naruto's head.

"I blame you Uzumaki!"

"Hey what was the for?!" Naruto retrieved the eraser at and threw it back at Mayonaka's face. She let out a shrill squeal as it sailed past her, just glancing her nose as she turned to avoid it. Instead of hitting Mayonaka, it hit Sasuke square in the face. Mayonaka and Naruot burst out laughing at the rectangle of white in the middle of Sasuke's face.

"Look! Now he's an _albino _emo cockatoo!" If looks could kill, the death glare that Sasuke gave Mayonaka would've made her drop dead on the spot. The three genin walked out of the classroom behind their squad leader. He took them to the roof of some building and sat down on the railing.

"Okay. Introduce yourselves with your likes, dislikes, dreams, and names. I'll go first. My name is Hatake, Kakashi. I don't really know what my likes or dislikes are and, as for my dreams…well…I haven't really thought about that. Okay, you, with the black hair, your turn."

Sasuke got a grumpy look on his face before speaking. "My name is Uchiha, Sasuke. I like very few things," at this Sasuke stole a quick, almost invisible glance at Mayonaka, "and I dislike many things." Sasuke then glared daggers at Naruto. "My dream is to kill a certain…someone."

Mayonaka leaned over and whispered in Naruto's ear, "And that was our Emo Update with the emo cockatoo, Sasuke Uchiha. Now, back to the news." This sent both of them into hysterics.

"Okay, since she's so eager to share, we'll have the girl go next."

"But Kakashi-sensei, I thought the girl already went," said Mayonaka, holding back laughter as she pointed at the pissed off Uchiha. Naruto, who had just recovered from his first episode of laughter, fell into another fit. Mayonaka couldn't help it anymore and joined him, rolling on the ground and clutching her sides. Sasuke only shook his head at how idiotic the two were. As soon as the laughter subsided, Mayonaka began talking while wiping the tears from her eyes. "Okay, let's see, my name is Tenshi, Mayonaka. I _love_ chocolate and I thoroughly enjoy pissing off the emo cockatoo over there. I hate stupid people. As for my dream, no fucking clue." Mayonaka smiled up at the jounin who still showed no emotion on his half covered face.

"Okay. Now the blonde one."

"I'm Uzumaki, Naruto. I like ramen and I've made a hobby out of trying new kinds. I don't like being unnoticed, and my dream is to become the 5th Hokage so everyone in the village will notice and respect me!"

"Alright. That's all for today. Tomorrow, don't eat breakfast and meet me at the training grounds at 5:00 am sharp." Mayonaka didn't get a chance to ask any questions before Kakashi disappeared. She got up and leaned over the railing to see where he had gone. Upon doing so, she exposed her back to Naruto and Sasuke who finally noticed the "angel" kanji tattoo on her lower back.

"Uh, Mayonaka?"

"Yeah Naruto?" Mayonaka turned around and sat on the railing waiting for Naruto to continue.

"Where'd you get that tattoo?"

"Oh, this?" She ran her hand across the blue marks, remembering what had driven her to such extremes. "Don't feel like sharing anymore."

"You never tell me anything!"

"Yeah? So?"

"You know what? Screw this. I'm going home. Mayonaka you still owe me that bowl of ramen from last week!"

"Damn. I thought you'd forgotten about that. Oh well. That's what I get for forcing you to train with me. Okay. I'll make you the ramen as soon as I get home tonight, deal?" This put smile on the shinobi's face as he nodded and pranced away, probably looking for Sakura.

"I don't see why you hang out with him."

"And I don't see why you _don't _hang out with him," retorted Mayonaka before heading off to find Shikamaru to ask how his first day as a genin went. She couldn't find him anywhere so she went back to her apartment instead. She made Naruto his ramen and sat down to read. As the moon rose, she realized that she wasn't going to sleep tonight. She didn't want to stay in her apartment so she climbed out of her window onto the roof instead. She just sat there, watching the moon and thinking about the day to come.


	6. Chapter 6

Kakashi-sensei's Test…

The sun was just beginning to rise so Mayonaka climbed back into her apartment to get ready for the day. She showered, got dressed, and fed Kurohyou. She also slowed down her metabolism to make up for no breakfast, and grabbed an energy drink to compensate for her all-nighter.

She left her apartment before Naruto and headed for the training grounds. The sun was still rising and it was 4:45. She was the first one there. She sat at the base of a tree and opened her energy drink. She sipped it slowly while she waited for her friends. Sasuke arrived ten minutes later. Naruto arrived at exactly 5 o' clock. Naruto grumbled something that sounded vaguely like "Good morning." He then noticed the can in Mayonaka's hand and noted that she was already fully awake. An incoherent grunt escaped his lips, apparently directed at Mayonaka.

"What did you say Naruto?"

"I said, can I have some of that drink you've got in your hand?" If Mayonaka didn't know any better, she could've sworn Naruto was drunk because of how much he was slurring. When she finally figured out what he was saying, she thought of what the consequences would be if the already hyper Naruto got hyped up on sugar and caffeine. Her eyes widened to the point of almost popping out of her head and she practically shouted, "Hell no!"

"Why not?!"

"I'm frightened to imagine what you'd be like on caffeine. Just find some other way to wake up."

At about 10:00 am, Kakashi finally showed up. "Are you three ready for your test to become genin?"

"Wait, what?! But I thought…they said…I mean…aren't we already genin?!" Mayonaka was not pleased with the news she was being given.

"That exam was only supposed to narrow down the number of students who needed to be tested. This is the real test. Your objective: retrieve the bells before noon." At this, Kakashi held up two silver bells and tied them around his belt.

'Oh perfect, now if I miss those bells who knows what other "bells" I may encounter. That _really _makes me want to go after them. Thanks. Really. I truly appreciate it.' Mayonaka wanted to grab his collar and scream in his face for his idiocy. 'Well, if I end up making you a soprano, don't blame me. You're the dumb ass who put the bells there.' Mayonaka leapt into the trees as the "exam" began. Naruto remained in the middle of the clearing ready to fight. Kakashi pulled out a book and began to read. Mayonaka was too far away to hear what they were saying so she silently watched the ensuing chaos.

Naruto charged and somehow, Kakashi got behind him. Kakashi made a hand sign and shouted something like "Thousand years of death!" before he did something that looked a lot like shoving his first few fingers up Naruto's ass. Naruto went flying into the river.

Mayonaka shouted out "Man rape!" before leaping to another tree so she couldn't be found. She ended up right next to Sasuke but since Kakashi was looking in their direction, she couldn't move anywhere else. All she could do is quietly whisper "Ah fuck," under her breath.

"Mayonaka, did Kakashi-sensei just shove his fingers up Naruto's ass?"

"It would appear so. Now shut up before I kill you and eat your liver." Sasuke went back to searching for an opening. "Ya know what, screw this. I'm gonna get one of those bells." Mayonaka leapt down from the tree she was in and stopped about ten feet away from Kakashi. He briefly glanced up from his book before delving back in. From here, Mayonaka could see the "Mature" rating on the back cover. She began formulating a plan to try and piss off Kakashi.

"Is the reason you look at porn because you can't seem to get the job done yourself, or are you just one more perv who gawks at little girls?" Kakashi looked up. She had caught his attention. This was how she fought: she'd get inside her opponent's head and piss them off till they couldn't think straight. She could tell that she had touched a tender nerve with her remark. She sensed the utter disbelief at the disrespect of her comment coming from Naruto and Sasuke.

"You could get in some serious trouble with a mouth like that kid."

"Last I checked, my name was Mayonaka, not "kid." You'd do well to remember that name." Mayonaka charged at the jounin, ready to do whatever it took to get one of the bells. He obviously blocked her but she rebounded and came at him from behind. He blocked her at first but once she sprouted a tail, he didn't have enough appendages to block her blows and she was able to glance one of the bells with the tip of her finger before he leapt away. Kakashi already knew about the Tokage-jigoku from the Hokage, but Mayonaka's new appendage surprised both Naruto and Sasuke. She stood there in a fighting stance, tail swinging back and forth like a cat that was playing with a newfound toy.

"Quick on our feet are we Kakashi-sensei?" She smirked, taunting him. Seeing this as an opening for attack, Sasuke flung an assortment of shuriken and kunai knives at Kakashi. They struck what appeared to be Kakashi head on, but Mayonaka already knew it was a log from the body replacement jutsu. The problem was, she couldn't find where the real Kakashi was. As soon as the log resumed its original appearance, Sasuke leapt off in another direction, obviously aware that Kakashi now knew his position. Naruto had gone off somewhere while Mayonaka was sparring with Kakashi. She was alone. "Damn. I could've gotten a bell if that Uchiha bastard hadn't gotten in the way." Abandoning her tail, she decided to take a walk through the trees. There wasn't much else she could do at this point.

Half way through the walk, she realized that she had passed the same tree about five times. 'This must be genjutsu.' Mayonaka put up her guard, ready for almost anything. What she wasn't ready for was Sasuke Uchiha leaping out of the bushes about 20 feet ahead of her, and standing stark naked. He had a strange, almost lusty look in his eyes, almost like a man who was about to rape a little girl. The worst part wasn't that he was naked, but that he was damn smoking hot! His muscles were well toned, he had a tropical tan with no tan lines, and there was the thinnest layer of glistening sweat all over his body. Mayonaka couldn't help but let the words "Holy fuck" escape her lips.

For Mayonaka, seeing Sasuke like this was like watching a train wreck; she wanted to look away, but she couldn't help but keep her eyes glued to the boy in front of her. She tried to remember what she had learned about genjutsu at the academy but it was as if someone had killed her brain, put it in a blender and pressed puree; it didn't work anymore. Not to mention Sasuke was approaching her slowly and an immense heat had crept up her neck and across her face. Her head felt relatively light. Her stomach did several back flips and twisted into knots. Her chest felt like it was constricting the fluttering beast that was her heart, beating against her sternum. Suddenly it came to her. She formed the hand sign and yelled "Release!" Sasuke disappeared and she breathed deeply, trying to fill her lungs with cool, fresh air. She then got severely pissed off and yelled towards the trees. "Yeah, thanks Kakashi-sensei. I really wanted to pay for therapy when I grew up. Thanks for raping my eyes!"

Mayonaka started walking back towards the clearing. After about 5 minutes, she stopped mid-stride and slowly turned her head to her left. Sasuke was buried neck-deep in the earth. "If this is more genjutsu, I am _so _gonna kill Kakashi-sensei."

"Why? What did he do?" Mayonaka quickly realized that there was no genjutsu and set to work on helping Sasuke out.

"You _really _don't want to know."

"Did it have something to do with your shout about him raping your eyes?"

"Yes. It did. I'm currently trying to formulate a plan to extract my revenge." After digging out Sasuke, they decided it may be easier to split up and each try to get their own bell, since there were only two. On her way back, Mayonaka heard a timer go off and realized it was time for lunch. She hurried back to the three punching logs in the middle of the training grounds. She knew the senseis were supposed to provide lunch during training but when she got there, she only saw two boxed lunches on a rock. Kakashi was nowhere to be seen and Naruto was struggling against the ropes that bound him to one of the punching logs.

"Naruto, did Kakashi-sensei say anything before he left?"

"He said something about I broke the rules and you two get lunches because you were the closest to getting the bells. And he said something about us needing to learn to work as a team. Why do you care, Sasuke? You've got a lunch."

"He cares because he likes to know shit." Mayonaka sat down on one side of Naruto and Sasuke on the other. She opened her lunch, pulled out the chopsticks and just stared at it. She was about to take a bite when an enormous growl emanated from the blonde ninja's abdomen. She put down her lunch and checked to make sure Kakashi wasn't around. "Naruto, have my lunch."

"What? Why?"

"Because Kakashi said we need to work as a team right? Well you can't work on an empty stomach, but I can." Mayonaka checked one last time with her mind to make sure Kakashi wasn't there. She didn't know that he knew how to block a telepath's mind. She thought the coast was clear.

"Thanks Mayo-chan but," Naruto tried to move his hands showing that the ropes wouldn't give enough for him to use them, "I think you're gonna have to feed me."

"Oh Jesus. Whatever." Mayonaka picked up her lunch and gave Naruto some rice. As soon as he swallowed, Kakashi leapt from the trees and landed 2 feet in front of the genin.

"You broke the rules. You know what that means don't you?" The skies began to go black with thunderheads. Mayonaka was in a state of shock from the fact that she hadn't sensed Kakashi's presence. Sasuke calmly stood up.

"It means we care more about our teammates than your stupid rules. We are a team and we have to act like one." Mayonaka snapped out of her shock and took a fighting stance next to Sasuke in front of Naruto. Kakashi smiled, confusing all three of them.

"You pass!" The skies cleared. Mayonaka's jaw dropped.

"Kakashi-sensei, you are damn lucky I didn't have a kunai in my hand when you said that."

"I'm sure I was."

"So does this mean we're done for today?"

"Yes, Sasuke, we're done for today. Come back here tomorrow, same time. Tomorrow we start our missions."

New Arrivals…

Mayonaka was pulling weeds from an herb garden. It was a D rank mission, which meant her IQ was dropping by the minute. She was bored out of her mind. Yesterday they had gotten home from their first A rank mission. It started out C rank until a gaggle of rogue ninja tried to attack the old man they were escorting to the Village of the Mists. While there, Kakashi had gotten injured so Naruto, Sasuke and Mayonaka trained while he recovered. He refused to allow Mayonaka to heal him using her gekai. He had heard her comment about extracting her revenge for his genjutsu. He didn't know that she always created a complicated and violent way to extract revenge, but she never carried out with it. In training, all three learned how to control the chakra in their feet to climb steep inclines.

While guarding the old man at the bridge he was trying to build, one rogue ninja named Zabuza and his apprentice, Haku, attacked. The three genin saw Kakashi's sharingan at work. Sasuke was also finally able to harness the power of his kekei-genkai, which was also the sharingan. In the process of protecting Naruto from Haku's attacks, he almost died, and Naruto began to learn about the enormous chakra that he could harness from the Kyuubi. While Naruto was dealing with Haku, Mayonaka had run over to Sasuke to heal him. If she hadn't had her unique gift to heal things, Sasuke would have died. Several poison dipped senbon needles had punctured him. He had passed out giving Naruto the impression that he had really died.

Now that that was over and Mayonaka was picking weeds, she was turning into a vegetable. The only interesting thing that happened was when Naruto decided he had to be better than Sasuke, again, and in the process of trying to pick all the weeds in record time, he also pulled out all the herbs their client had been growing. He'd been doing this sort of thing all morning, trying to prove he was better than Sasuke. Normally, it wouldn't have bothered her as much, but today was the first day of Mayonaka's period week. The first day was always the worst for her.

She was already sore from their A rank mission, so the cramps and lower back pain doubled in intensity. Not to mention her neck now hurt from leaning over to pick weeds the last few hours. She felt mildly nauseous and was absolutely exhausted. Every little thing pissed her off and she had trouble enjoying what used to make her happy. She was also craving lots and lots of food. On top of all that, she was freezing her ass off; the usual symptoms.

After completing a few more missions, Kakashi went to file the report, leaving Sasuke, Naruto, and Mayonaka alone in an alleyway. "I'm going home to train."

"Okay. You do that Sasuke." Mayonaka couldn't even find pleasure in teasing Sasuke today. She walked over and leaned on the fence that bordered the alley. With an exasperated sigh, she slid to the ground, rested her head on the fence and looked up at the sky.

"Mayonaka, why were you in such a pissy mood today?"

"Girl shit." Mayonaka didn't feel like extrapolating. Out of nowhere, a square box came up behind Naruto. After doing some sort of dance thing to avoid the box, Naruto turned around and watched as the box went up in smoke revealing Konohamaru, the Hokage's grandson, and two of his friends; Moegi and Udon. "Oh Jesus, more twerps. I'm gonna see if Shikamaru's done training yet."

Mayonaka left just as Sakura showed up, having just left the academy. While looking for Shikamaru, Mayonaka realized how little they had seen of each other since they became genin. It was constant training and missions. It would be nice to catch up. Unfortunately, Asuam-sensei was working them harder than ever. She decided to go back to the alley way and see if anything interesting had happened in her absence. Before she left, though, she pulled the cigarette out of Asuma's mouth and once again said, "Stop smoking. There are cooler ways to die."

Ever since she met Asuma, Mayonaka had been trying to get him to stop smoking. She had seen the effects of the tar on the lungs. Every time she saw him with a cigarette in his mouth, she'd repeat the same process. By now, Asuma had learned to put out his cigarette before Mayonaka could notice, but she sometimes caught him off guard.

On her way back to the alley, Mayonaka heard Konohamaru screaming and yelling, and Naruto shouting. She quickened her pace. She got there just in time to see Sasuke chuck a stone at a boy in a black jumpsuit with purple face paint, causing him to drop the kicking Konohamaru he had been about to punch. On his forehead was a Suna headband showing that he was a genin. Mayonaka was too far away to hear what they were saying but she noticed the black clad ninja wanted to fight, because he pulled a large and strangely shaped object off his back. It was wrapped up in some sort of cloth, like a mummy. Mayonaka sprinted up ready to help her teammates if needed. She could finally hear what the ninja was saying, and apperantly, it was about her, directed at Naruto.

"Hey look, now I can embarrass you in front of your mommy."

Mayonaka did not need this guy's shit right now. He had obviously assumed she was much older due to her more "matured" body structure. "I'm twelve jackass. And what's on your face? Did you spill your finger-paints?" A blonde girl behind the ninja, obviously one of his teammates, cracked up at Mayonaka's remark. The shinobi's face went deep red; from anger, embarrassment, overheating, or all three, Mayonaka couldn't tell. She took the opportunity to delve into his mind and see what was going on in that tiny brain of his.

She mostly just heard a lot of "colorful" language directed at her but she was able to find out his name was Kankurou. The blonde girl, his older sister, was Temari. She tried to find something on their third teammate, but all she could find was that he was the youngest of the siblings. He seemed to be trying to not think about him. Suddenly, she was pulled out of Kankurou's mind by feeling the same emotions of loneliness, bloodlust and hatred that she had felt the night she had planned to kill herself. The difference was that now that they were at such a close range, the power of the emotions had intensified considerably.

"Kankurou, stop. You're disgracing our village." Mayonaka looked up in the tree where Sasuke was and caught her breath. Hanging from a branch beside Sasuke was a pale redheaded boy. There were dark circles surrounding his cyan eyes and the kanji for love was over his left eye. She also couldn't help but notice that he lacked eyebrows. Mayonaka could feel the fear and shock emanating from her friends. She didn't care. Somehow she was drawn to the boy. She felt not unlike how she had felt when she saw the genjutsu Sasuke. She tried to fight off the enormous blush that was pushing to get across her face. Epic fail. She was surprised her friends didn't notice the immense heat emanating from her face. Thankfully, she was slightly in the shadow of a tree, thus her blush went unnoticed by the hot redhead.

She wanted to find out more about this boy, so she tried to get inside his head. The first thing she encountered was an iron wall surrounding his thoughts. He obviously always kept his barriers up. But Mayonaka could sense something other than thoughts on the other side of the wall; something trapped and angry. Driven by impulse and crazed hormones, she tried to find out more.

Mayonaka began searching for a weak spot in the wall. The drone of her friends' conversation barely reached her ears, but she was still mildly aware of her surroundings. She found a small hole. She pushed her way through and immediately encountered a loud scream, much like an injured animal, yet somehow still sounding human. Intense emotions of pain, hate, bloodlust, loneliness, and maybe even fear flooded her body, reminding her a lot of when she first came in contact with her demon. The animalistic scream was giving her a full-blown migraine so she let herself be pushed from the tortured boy's mind.

Now outside of his mind, Mayonaka raised her hands to her temples to massage them. The slight movement drew the attention of the boy. As Mayonaka looked back up, her eyes met with his. He was on the ground now. She knew one way to show confidence was to never be the first to break eye contact. Her head still pounded from the scream. She couldn't hear much over the pulsing in her ears. What was able to get through was that apparently, the boy's name was Sabaku no Gaara.

She had kept eye contact for a full minute, and then Naruto decided to use her as a threat. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. The sudden movement caused pain to erupt at the base of her skull and quickly spread throughout her cranium. She was sensitive to light and sound and Naruto's shrill voice made it all worse. He was saying something about Mayonaka kicking the sand ninjas' asses if they didn't state their purpose. That was when she couldn't take it anymore. "Naruto, if you don't let go of me right now I will kill you and shove your brain up your ass." The people of Konoha had learned that Mayonaka's death threats didn't really mean anything except that she was pissed off. Naruto quickly pulled his arm away anyway. "I have a migraine. I'm going home. If anyone needs me, they're out of luck."

Mayonaka began walking away. Even the rustling of the trees hurt her head. She heard people talking behind her but she didn't care. She placed her hand over her eyes because the sun was suddenly too bright. "Mayonaka!"

"What the hell do you want Naruto?!"

"They want to know your name."

"I don't give a fuck! Someone sledgehammered my head and I need painkillers."

The Dream…

Mayonaka had managed to escape to her apartment and take a max in painkillers. She locked herself in her bedroom and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber. After a few hours, Naruto came along and started pounding on her apartment door. Her hair was a complete mess and her clothes were severely rumpled. Having drooled in her sleep as usual, the whole left side of her face was sticky and damp. She didn't bother to do a thing before answering the door. "What do you want Naruto?"

"Mayonaka, did you know abou…woah, what happened to you?"

"I fell asleep. What do you want?"

"Did you know about the chuunin exams?"

"That's the thing where you're tested to see if you can become a chuunin right?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Didn't we study about them in the academy?"

"Oh, yeah. Hey, do you wanna get some ramen to celebrate Kakashi letting us participate?"

"What time is it?"

"Around 6:00."

"Nah. I'll pass. You should ask Hinata instead."

"Alright, whatever."

"See ya." Mayonaka decided to search the village for Shikamaru. Her headache had finally gone away. She found him sitting in the tree where she had first really met him. She climbed up the tree, sat down on the branch beside him, leaned back and put her hands behind her head. They merely sat there and watched the sky turn pink from the sunset. Eventually they went to a rooftop to get a better view. After a while, Shikamaru decided to break the silence.

"Mayonaka, did you hear about the chuunin exams?"

"Yeah. I'm assuming Asuma told you guys as well?"

"Yeah. It's getting late. My mom'll be worried if I don't show up soon."

"Okay. I'll see ya later." On the way home, Mayonaka saw Naruto scarfing down ramen at Ichiraku's Ramen Shop. Hinata was beside him. Mayonaka smiled to herself. If they ever got together they'd make a really cute couple. The sun had already set and a half-moon towered over the village, glowing like a polished pearl. Not a cloud could be seen in the sky to obscure the gorgeous sight.

A ways farther down the road, Mayonaka had to pass the alley were she had first found Kurohyou. Due to the bright moonlight, she felt completely at ease. She had no clue that a pair of eyes was watching her from the other side of the road. As soon as she passed in front of the alley, she got shoved inside and pushed against a wall.

She was only able to catch a glimpse of cyan eyes and red hair before her hands were pinned up against the wall above her head and a pair of lips crashed against her own in a passionate kiss. Mayonaka resisted only for a moment before she realized who this was and she melted into the kiss.

Gaara released her hands knowing she wouldn't resist anymore and let her embrace him around the shoulders, deepening the kiss. He placed his hands on her hips, cold flesh meeting warm and giving Mayonaka goose bumps. He shifted slightly, pressing his pelvis against hers causing her to arch her back, molding her body into his. With space now between Mayonaka's back and the wall, Gaara trailed one cold finger lightly up her spine. When he reached her mesh shirt, he slowly brought his hand around her side and placed it on her abdomen, just below the hemline of her mesh shirt. The sensation caused Mayonaka to tighten her embrace and run one of her hands through his hair.

Gaara seductively ran his tongue along Mayonaka's lip, begging for entrance. She granted it to him without a moment's hesitation, for she craved the same thing. Their tongues entwined, fighting for dominance but neither really trying. Mayonaka couldn't stand it any longer and she leapt up, wrapping her legs around his waist. He gripped her thighs and pushed her back against the wall to keep her from falling. Mayonaka placed her hands on the sides of his neck at the jaw line. The two ninja slowly pulled apart and when Mayonaka opened her eyes, she was staring at her bedroom ceiling.

She was wrapped up in her blankets like they were a cocoon. Her pajamas were sticking to her slender body for she had been sweating. She still had goose bumps all up and down her arms. She finally remembered that she had come home after seeing Naruto and Hinata and immediately gone to bed. But the dream had been so real and vivid. She could swear that she could still feel Gaara's lips against hers. In the process of trying to kick herself free of her blankets, Mayonaka fell off her bed and crashed to the floor, which jarred open the blankets. She got up and went into her bathroom to look at herself in the mirror.

While leaning over the sink, she watched her necklace swing slowly back and forth in front of her cleavage. She thought about how she usually didn't dream at all during her period. She was still groggy and slightly dizzy from her bump on the head when she hit the floor after falling off the bed. She looked at her alarm clock by her bed. It said that it was about 4:30 am; half an hour until she had to meet Kakashi and the others. She decided to get ready for the day.

Mayonaka turned on the water in the shower to let it warm up. She went back to her room to grab two towels off the floor and shut the door. Upon returning to the now steam filled bathroom, Mayonaka undressed leaving only her necklace. She looked in the mirror and noticed the swelling in her breasts had gone down some and they were slightly less sore than yesterday. She'd still be irritable but it would be easier to control as the week went on. She let out an exasperated sigh as she wished she could get rid of her period, but it was the one body function she couldn't control.

Mayonaka stepped into the shower and let the hot water stream over her body, allowing all of her worries to slip down the drain with the suds from her shampoo, forgotten. She ran her fingers through her thick, wet, brown hair to remove the tangles, massaging her scalp with conditioner at the same time. The water splashed against her forehead and ran through her hair in little streams, taking the excess conditioner with it.

During her shower, Mayonaka couldn't help but remember her dream in vivid detail; the cold, smooth feel of Gaara's pale skin, the silkiness of his red locks, and other delicious goodies that only left Mayonaka wanting more. She turned off the water and wrapped a towel around her hair like a turban to absorb the water from her sopping wet hair. Another towel went around her body for the same purpose.

After dressing, she sat on her bed and pulled her necklace out from beneath her shirts. While slowly twirling it in-between her fingers, she slowly realized that she could not have Gaara. There was nothing about him that related to the necklace. Mayonaka let out another exasperated sigh and stuffed her necklace back down her shirt after grabbing an energy drink. Upon arriving at the training ground, Mayonaka noticed that Naruto and Sasuke were already there. She leaned against a tree in the shadows, slid down and sat at the base, and took a sip from her drink.

"Hey, Mayonaka, are you okay? You look even more depressed than you usually do after you say you've got "girl shit" going on."

Mayonaka always used the "girl shit" excuse around her guy friends when she had her period. "Just a bunch of shit this time I guess." When Kakashi-sensei _finally _showed up he announced that they had exactly 27 days to train and study for the chuunin exams. "Twenty-seven days sounds like a really random number Kakashi-sensei. Do you know why it's 27 days?"

"Well, Mayonaka, you would have the whole month but I was a bit late in telling you guys. Let's start training then."


	7. Chapter 7

The Written Exam…

The past 27 days, Mayonaka, Naruto and Sasuke had been training intensely to prepare for the exams. Even the smallest mission turned into a training session. It was only during the last week that Mayonaka finally woke up and was able to move without being in pain due to how sore she was. She was still gloomy though, about not being able to have Gaara. She had wanted him so badly. But she put on a happy face for her friends. They suspected nothing.

It was finally the day for the first exam. Mayonaka was due to start her period again. She could tell; her breasts were sore and swollen, she was cold, tired, and she had no appetite. A week before her actual period week, Mayonaka's appetite would always disappear. When her period week came, her appetite came back with a vengeance.

Mayonaka met Naruto and Sasuke at the academy where the exam was to take place. All three went into a room where all the genin were being kept until they had the classroom prepared. Immediately, Naruto did something incredibly stupid and shouted, "My name is Uzumaki, Naruto and I won't lose to any of you!" Every person in the room, and there were a _lot_, looked his way. Mayonaka edged to the side unnoticed and began to search for Shikamaru. She found him napping near the rest of his team.

"Hey Chouji. Hey Ino. How long has Shikamaru been asleep?"

"Since we got here. Wait…if you're here, that means…. Sasuke-kun I'm coming!"

Mayonaka watched Ino speed off and glomp Sasuke. Mayonaka sat on the desk where Ino had been and kicked Shikamaru's foot to wake him up. He groaned, opened his eyes, saw Mayonaka and sat up.

"I hate it when you wake me up from my naps for no apparent reason."

"And you still love me anyway." Mayonaka pulled a box of pocky out of her bag and began munching. Seeing Chouji eating his chips had made her hungry. "So what's new?"

"Nothing really. I see Naruto's done something stupid already."

Mayonaka looked over her shoulder and saw Ino strangling Naruto for something he said. "Yeah. The dumbass always finds a new way to prove he's more of an idiot than I already thought by doing something stupid. But ya gotta love him." mayonaka leaned back against the wall behind the desk she was sitting on and closed her eyes. She was so tired. She had already downed an energy drink and drinking another would just be too much. Mayonaka stuck another piece of pocky in her mouth and began falling asleep. Apparently she had a thoughtful expression on her face because as soon as she was about to fall asleep, Shikamaru asked, "What are you thinking? You're not usually this quiet."

Mayonaka quickly thought of something to say to satisfy Shikamaru. "I was just thinking, if we could harness the power of stupid, and use it to power the world, we'd be able to blow our asses to the next 300 galaxies and 400 dimensions. I mean, think about how many stupid people are out there and just how incredibly stupid they are."

"Where the hell did that come from?"

"I don't know. Besides, you should know by now how utterly random I am." Suddenly, a giant puff of smoke announced the arrival of the instructor for the first exam. He announced the rules for the written exam; if you are caught cheating for the third time, you fail. There will be ten questions and the tenth will be given 15 minutes before the end of the hour and the questions will become harder as they progressed. The person who gets the lowest score of the three-man squad will not only fail, but never be able to become a chuunin. After the instructor announced the rules, he showed everyone the seating chart. Mayonaka found her seat, sat down and placed her head in her arms, waiting for the exam to be handed out.

She lifted her head when she was handed a test by one of the guards who would be stationed around the perimeter of the room to watch for cheaters. She looked around to see who was sitting by her. To her right was a silver haired boy who wore glasses and tied his hair up in a ponytail. In front of her was Ino. Behind her was Sasuke. To her left was Gaara.

A blush threatened to creep up Mayonaka's neck but she was able to keep it at bay. He would be sure to notice it at such close quarters. On his back was a gourd exactly like the pendant on her necklace, only bigger and not made of silver. Mayonaka had failed to notice it before. 'How the hell did I miss _that _before?! I am _so _stupid!' Mayonaka felt incredibly giddy now that she had realized that Gaara _did_ have something relating him to her necklace. Her daydreams were interrupted by the instructor shouting, "Begin!" and the shuffle of paper as tests were turned over.

Mayonaka finished within the first half-hour finding only the final few questions to be difficult. During the test, Mayonaka carefully watched the people around her for cheating. At one point she saw Ino's body slump against the desk as she used her jutsu to possess to body of the person in front of her and steal their answers. Gaara had made some subtle hand signs and produced an eye made from the sand he used. He used the eye to look at the answers of the person in front of him while they rubbed their own eyes. Mayonaka saw many people cheating, but only a few got caught. She was thankful she didn't have to take the risk.

During training, Mayonaka had trained with Sasuke and Naruto on telepathic communication. Of course, _they_ couldn't establish the contact, but they could recognized it and respond to Mayonaka through thought if needed. After the 27 days, Mayonaka could have a conversation with the two without ever opening their mouths.

After completing the first 9 questions of her test, Mayonaka flipped it over, rested her elbow on her desk and placed her chin on her hand, pretending to take a nap. She made contact with Sasuke and asked if he needed any help with his answers.

'I'm good. I copied your answers with my sharingan. I think Naruto may need help though.'

As soon as Mayonaka made contact with Naruto, she leapt back from the noise level of his incoherent scream of, 'I DON'T NEED ANY HELP! I'M FINE!' She immediately cut off contact but not because she didn't want to hear anymore; she was preoccupied with trying to keep her composure. Upon leaping back she had slipped off her chair, crashed to the floor, her head hitting Sasuke's desk behind her, and let out a small yelp of pain. All eyes were on her as she climbed back into the chair. The instructor stared at her for a moment before asking what happened.

"Fell asleep. Slipped off chair. Okay now." Mayonaka's face had gone bright red. When the instructor turned around again, Mayonaka rested her forehead on her hands so that they hid her face. She tried to bury her head between her shoulders and slouch down in her chair as far as she would go to see if she might just disappear. It didn't work…at _all_. She ended up looking like a really short, red-faced hunchback whose arms were too long. After sitting like this for a full five minutes, she finally relaxed. She placed her head in her arms over her test and immediately fell asleep.

Mayonaka awoke to the sound of Naruto's shrill voice shouting something at the front of the room. 'What the hell is that idiot doing now? My head's still pounding from the first time he yelled.' It was obviously time for the tenth question. When Naruto stopped yelling and sat down, Mayonaka lifted her head to listen to the question. She was surprised when the instructor told everyone they passed. Mayonaka assumed they were free to go when everyone stood up to leave. Suddenly, a purple haired woman jumped into the room through the closed window showering everyone with glass.

"Not yet maggots. You still got your second exam." The first instructor spoke up.

"Anko, you're early. The second exam is tomorrow."

"I know that. I'm just handing out the consent forms now." While Mayonaka waited to receive her form she watched the second instructor. Her most noticeable feature was that she wore a mesh shirt…with no bra. After receiving her form, Mayonaka looked up at the instructor.

"Freedom?" The instructor nodded. "FREEDOM!" Mayonaka leapt over the desks and ran out the door screaming, "PAINKILLERS!" leaving everyone flabbergasted. She had a massive headache from all of Naruto's yelling. She ran home, downed some painkillers, and ran to Ichiraku's where she knew she'd find Naruto. She found him and instantly put him in a headlock. She then began talking in his ear as he struggled to free himself. "Next time…DON'T FUCKING SCREAM IN MY HEAD DAMN IT!"

Naruto slumped, unconscious, into his chair like a dead bag of potatoes. Mayonaka sat down next to him and ordered some ramen as Naruto's arrived. The smell of freshly made ramen was able to get Naruto out of his blackout and he immediately chowed down. Surprisingly, Sasuke showed up and also ordered a bowl of ramen. Even more surprisingly, Mayonaka didn't care.

Her mind was currently elsewhere; thinking about Gaara. She was absolutely ecstatic about finding out he was her true love. Mayonaka's ramen arrived at the same time as Sasuke's. She scarfed it down, her appetite finally having returned. Sasuke, being a total retard, asked Naruto how his own exam went. Sometimes Mayonaka couldn't believe how stupid he could be.

"Oh, mine went fine. How about you?"

"Naruto, don't lie damn it." Mayonaka couldn't stand it when he lied and did things that he wouldn't normally do to prove that he was better that Sasuke. Naruto glared at Mayonaka and began wolfing down his ramen again, stopping only to breathe. Sasuke looked at Mayonaka expecting her to explain. "I'll let Naruto tell you what happened if he wants to. Just don't pester him." Sasuke shrugged and slowly started on his ramen, very unlike Naruto and Mayonaka who merely scarfed down bowl after bowl.

Mayonaka slurped up the last bit of her broth, paid and set off to see if Shikamaru had done all right, and she wanted to see if she could catch a glimpse of Gaara again. She found Shikamaru lying on a bench on a rooftop next to Chouji, who was sitting. "Mind if I join you?" Shikamaru grunted, which Mayonaka assumed meant, "Go ahead." She laid down on her back with her hands behind her head next to Shikamaru. He was obviously trying to nap. "So, Chouji, how'd your exam go?"

"It went pretty well. I did have to cheat a little though."

"That doesn't matter. We were supposed to cheat. I wish Naruto had known that."

"Yeah. Shikamaru told me that after the exam."

"Hey Shikamaru, how'd your exam go?" Shikamaru lazily gave Mayonaka a thumbs-up. Mayonaka giggled and looked at the clouds, which were turning a lovely pink color as the sun fell. Shikamaru's laziness always amused her. Mayonaka closed her eyes and saw Gaara's face; another daydream. She finally noticed that whenever she had seen Gaara, his features were always arranged in a scowl. She wanted so badly to find out what went on behind those hate-filled eyes. Last she had checked, all the screaming had drowned out the thoughts.

Mayonaka eventually fell asleep on the rooftop. When she awoke, Shikamaru and Chouji had left and the full moon was directly above her. She checked her watch to find that it was five to midnight. Mayonaka sat up, stretched, and yawned before sprouting wings to fly home; she was too tired to walk and flying would be faster.

Mayonaka was about 15 feet over the rooftops, riding a warm breeze and gliding without a sound. She peered down at the rooftops flashing by and opened her mind to the dreams of the sleeping villagers; it was always interesting to watch another person's dreams. Most of the dreams tonight were very peaceful and helped make Mayonaka relax and feel serene.

As she passed over one rooftop, she encountered an incredibly vivid and horrible nightmare. A familiar sort of screaming erupted in her skull as the nightmare this person was having flooded her mind. She cringed from the pain because the dream was so vivid, so incredibly vivid that there was no way someone was dreaming this; these were remembered memories of a boy she felt she must have met before, but couldn't quite remember. Mayonaka's thoughts were muddled and confused. She couldn't think very clearly while in so much pain. A new wave of pain washed over her and, forgetting she was 15 feet in the air, she cringed and tried to use her wings to protect her from the invisible force.

As Mayonaka realized she was plummeting towards the rooftops, she tried to re-open her wings and catch a breeze. All she had really done was take away the armor-like protection that would have prevented any damage to her body when she reached the ground. Mayonaka naturally put her arms out in front of her to break her fall. She heard a sickening snap by her right ear as she caught all her weight on her right arm. She didn't feel anything as she slipped into unconsciousness. The problem was, her mind was still open to the thoughts of those around her; the memories of the boy tortured her, even when she was unconscious. It was only then that Mayonaka recognized that it was Gaara; he had finally let down his barriers and was thinking about his past. Mayonaka's brain was too scrambled and too close to unconsciousness to register any more than that.

Gaara's Past…

Mayonaka watched as Gaara's troubled childhood unfolded before her. She saw and felt things as he remembered, through his eyes. She felt the cool breeze ruffling his gorgeous, red, tangled locks and the soft sand shifting beneath his sandals as he walked through the village of Suna. He sat down on a swing and hugged a stuffed animal to his chest. Mayonaka didn't know how, but she knew the stuffed animal was Gaara's favorite teddy bear. She figured he must've been much younger when this took place.

Mayonaka watched a group of kids playing a game of kickball in the distance through Gaara's eyes. She felt how alone he had felt as he watched them running and laughing. He hugged his bear closer to his chest for comfort. They kept watching the game. At one point, the ball soared high into the air and landed in a puff of sand on the roof of a nearby building. Gaara got up, abandoned his bear by the swing, and walked, unnoticed by the other children, over to the building.

The other children stared at the ball as it was suddenly lifted by the sand, and carried down to Gaara's waiting hands. The children looked absolutely horrified; as if Gaara had just whipped out a chainsaw with an attached flamethrower and began charging while laughing maniacly. Mayonaka was confused because Gaara had just rescued their ball. Shouldn't they be thanking him?

Instead of thanking Gaara, the children began shouting things like, "Hey! It's that Gaara kid! Everybody run!" As the children began running, the memory got slightly blurry; not like Gaara was crying, but more like he couldn't remember it very well. Suddenly, Mayonaka felt incredibly alone and neglected, reminding her of her time with Lucifer. She felt unwanted, unneeded, and uncared for. Mayonaka felt the years of built up rage finally burst inside Gaara and the memory blurred further. Mayonaka could barely make out a girl being grabbed by the sand and dragged back by the ankle before a wave of sand rose into the air to crush her.

The memory suddenly became incredibly vivid again as a young, rather feminine looking man stepped in the path of the sand and yelled in a pleading voice to stop. Mayonaka felt the affection Gaara had for this man, apparently his uncle, and the agony he felt when he saw the blood gushing forth from the gashes along the man's right forearm and forehead, left by the sand.

The memory then quickly changed. Gaara was now in a room with a large window offering Mayonaka a gorgeous view of the village. She also saw Gaara's reflection in the window. He appeared to be about 6 years old and wearing a sand-colored shawl. Everything seemed almost the same except that he had no gourd on his back. There seemed to be something else missing though, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Mayonaka went back to the memory after a while of trying to figure it out.

Gaara was holding a medical scalpel in his right hand and was pointing it at his left. He was staring at a picture of a brown-haired woman who looked very much like Gaara's uncle had. Mayonaka registered from the memory that this was Gaara's deceased mother. Gaara turned his attention to the scalpel in his hand. He quickly raised the scalpel and swiftly brought it down as if to stab his left hand. Before the blade could make contact, however, a small amount of sand blocked its path, shielding Gaara's hand from injury. It was obvious that Gaara was not the one controlling the sand this time.

Gaara was muttering something about the sand always interfering when his uncle came in the room and saw Gaara's attempt to hurt himself. Gaara's uncle took away the scalpel and the memory went blurry again. Mayonaka could tell how ashamed Gaara felt but she couldn't make out what he, or his uncle, Yashamaru, were saying. She could make out the words "love" and "pain" but nothing else.

Suddenly, Gaara grabbed Yashamaru's hand. Mayonaka could only tell because she felt it; the memory had gotten too blurry to make anything out. Gaara brought the hand to his mouth and began sucking on one of Yashamaru's fingers. Mayonaka was utterly confused until she tasted blood. She finally understood that Yashamaru had been trying to explain what pain felt like to Gaara. He must have cut his finger as a demonstration…or something like that. The memory suddenly cleared as Yashamaru quietly whispered, "Gaara, you are very precious to me. I don't know what I would do if something were to happen to you."

The memory suddenly switched again and Gaara was running through the streets of Suna with a small paper bag in his hands and a smile on his lips. Mayonaka could tell that in the bag was medicine, and he was bringing it to the girl who had gotten hurt when his sand got out of control. Gaara reached the girl's house and knocked on the door. He felt so happy that he was doing something good for someone else.

When the girl answered the door, the memory blurred severely. Mayonaka couldn't tell what was going on. She could only feel Gaara's emotions. Mayonaka heard a door slam in the distance and assumed it was the girl, slamming the door in Gaara's face. Gaara was absolutely devastated and confused. He had thought he was doing something good, but something had gone horribly awry. He seemed to believe that he was just a monster and that is the only thing that had gone wrong.

The memory jumped again and Gaara was sitting on a rooftop, staring at his hands. He was trying to figure out why he was acting this way; why he was such a monster. Apparently, he had just killed a man for looking at him the wrong way. Suddenly, a wall of sand shot up behind Gaara, snapping him out of his stupor. He turned to see a masked ninja with kunai knives hovering in the air, ready to hurtle them at Gaara.

Gaara then shouted something that Mayonaka couldn't make out before burying the ninja in sand and lifting him into the air. Gaara performed a jutsu that began crushing the ninja before dropping him on the ground. As Gaara saw the ninja's bandaged finger, the blood fled from his cheeks, leaving his face even more unnaturally pale. Gaara walked over to the ninja, knelt down beside him, and removed his mask.

Tears welled up in Gaara's eyes when he saw the face of the man who had tried to kill him. The man was his uncle, Yashamaru. He was badly injured and blood dribbled from the corner of his mouth. Gaara felt horrible at what he'd done and confused as to why Yashamaru would do something like this. Tears began rolling down Gaara's cheeks as he questioned his uncle's motives. Yashamaru replied in a hoarse voice, just above a whisper.

"I was ordered to kill you Gaara, by the Kazekage, your father."

Gaara felt slightly nauseous when he found out his father had tried to get him killed, but a grain of hope remained embedded in his heart. "You mean…you didn't have a choice. You had to follow orders." Gaara turned his face to look back at Yashamaru hopefully, only for that hope to be disintegrated by Yashamaru's reply.

"No. I had a choice. I could have refused, but I didn't want to Gaara. You see, I hated you." It felt like Gaara's heart had stopped beating for a moment and fallen into his stomach. "I always hated you Gaara. You are the reason my sister is dead. I tried to convince myself that she lived on in you, but I couldn't bring myself to loving a monster. But I'm not alone Gaara, because no on loves you, has ever loved you, and no one ever will love you. The sand demon Shukaku is sealed within you. You are only an experimental and dangerous weapon. Fight only for yourself, love only yourself, and you will survive. Goodbye Gaara; this is the end, for both of us."

Yashamaru pulled down the zipper on his jacket, revealing a layer of explosive seals. Gaara saw the first one ignite before a shell of sand surrounded him to protect him from the explosion.

Gaara's ears were ringing slightly as the sand slowly sifted to the ground. Yashamaru's words kept whirling about in Gaara's head as he watched the grains of sand bounce and hit each other. 'Love only myself, fight only for myself…' Gaara was in tremendous pain; his heart actually physically ached because of it. The one person Gaara had thought was his friend had just killed himself in an attempt to murder Gaara.

Suddenly, the image blacked out. Mayonaka figured the memory was too painful for Gaara. She could still hear and feel what was happening, although, it was very faint. She could barely hear Gaara's screams; she wanted to know what was going on.

When Gaara's screaming ceased, the image returned, along with a searing pain above Gaara's left eye. He was muttering something that Mayonaka couldn't really understand. She assumed it was Yashamaru's words again. She saw out of the corner of Gaara's eye, a nearby window. She caught Gaara's reflection and realized what had been missing earlier; the kanji for love. She felt the sting of salt in the wound and realized he must have done it with his sand.

The memory stopped abruptly as pain erupted in her shoulder near the nape of her neck. Mayonaka instinctively grabbed her shoulder where the pain was and felt something hard and sharp poking out of the skin along with warm, sticky liquid. She opened her eyes and strained to see what was causing the pain. She removed her hand and saw out of the very corner of her eye, a white object sticking out of where her collarbone was. She also saw a large bloodstain forming on her shirt. She then realized the she had a compound fracture in her collarbone.

Mayonaka sat up and pushed the bone back in place with her thumb. When it was aligned, she healed the hole in her skin and refused the bone. The area was still raw and throbbing with pain, but she could move her shoulder again. Mayonaka lapped up some of the blood out of habit and tasted salt.

Mayonaka quickly stood up and turned around at the sound of something shifting around. She followed trails of sand as they flowed into the gourd tied to Gaara's back. Mayonaka wished the moon wasn't so bright, but she was sure Gaara would've noticed her practically glowing blush even if it was pitch black.

But her heart ached as her sympathy went out to him. His past was just as bad, maybe even more so, as hers. Her maternal instinct told her to go to him and comfort him, but her survival instinct told her to run away…quickly. She took a cautious step forward, unsure of what to do. Gaara sat there, waiting for her to make the first move. Mayonaka glanced at her watch to find that it was exactly midnight; she had been out for about 3 minutes with a broken collarbone and he hadn't done a thing to help her. She decided to leave and let him sulk, figuring her survival instinct knew best.

Mayonaka turned around and unfurled her crumpled wings, ready to take off. When she took to the skies she chanced one final look back at Gaara. He was still watching her. She was surprised when she looked into his eyes. She could've sworn she saw the faintest glimpse of pure curiosity shimmering behind his impassive expression. She paid attention to where she was going again, just in time to avoid a tall building in front of her. Her face flushed again as she realized Gaara must've seen this.

As she flew, Mayonaka realized her face was a lot colder than it should have been. When she reached up to touch her cheek, she found it wet. She licked her lips and found them salty. She concluded that she had been crying from the pain, not only in her shoulder, but also from Gaara's memories. The pain had been enough to make her cry, even in unconsciousness.

When Mayonaka reached her apartment she let herself in via the window. As she prepared for bed, Mayonaka ran over Gaara's memories in her head. One thing stood out in particular; Yashamaru had mentioned the one-tailed demon, Shukaku. He had said that it was sealed within Gaara. He had a demon as well. Mayonaka had found another jinchuuriki. Mayonaka smiled as she went to bed; she had found one more, besides Naruto, like herself.


	8. Chapter 8

The Second Exam: Survival of the Fittest…

Mayonaka awoke that morning with a pounding headache. Her shoulder ached as well from her previously broken collarbone. She got ready for the day and headed off to training ground 44 where the second exam was to take place. Oddly enough, Naruto and Sasuke were already there when she arrived. "Since when did you two become early birds?"

"Since you've made a habit of wandering off on your own."

"Sasuke, do you honestly believe there's someone out there who can handle me when I'm pissed off? Puh-lease!"

"Mayonaka, the competition for the chuunin exams is tough. Especially that Gaara kid. You should be careful."

"And how do you know how tough the competition is? You haven't seen any of their moves yet. All we've done so far is take some lame test."

"Had you not wandered off before that test, you would've known this too. We got the information from Kabuto."

"Who's—" Mayonaka couldn't finish what she was going to ask because Anko had arrived. She explained the task at hand while collecting the signed consent forms. Each squad would be given either a heaven or an earth scroll. The objective was to get a different scroll from an opposing squad and get to the tower in the center of the training ground. They would have five days in the training ground, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. The genin were given one last bit of advice before heading off to their designated gates to enter the training ground; to not die.

Mayonaka peered through the chain link fence at the place she would be spending the next five days in. She thought "the Forest of Death" was an appropriate nickname as a ten foot long centipede crawled across a massive tree trunk on the other side of the fence. She wondered how such a small, weak fence kept in all the strange creatures that lay beyond. She didn't think people would need anything to keep them out unless they were insane; it looked terrifying.

A buzzer sounded and team 7's gate slid open as they bounded into the forest. Mayonaka had a feeling that being trapped in this area for five whole days with Naruto and Sasuke on the verge of her period would be pure hell. All three leapt through the trees keeping an eye out for other teams and for a safe-ish spot to make a sort of base. Mayonaka got a plan and jumped down into a clearing to tell Sasuke and Naruto who had followed her.

"Hey! Why are we stopping Mayo-chan? Shouldn't we be looking for other teams?"

"It's called strategy Naruto. I've got a plan. I say, I establish telepathic contact here, and we split up. I can keep contact for about ten miles away. If we split up, we've got a better chance at finding A. a team with a heaven scroll since we've got earth or B. a safe spot to set up base. If one of us finds one of those two things, I'll tell the other and we'll go after them. It's simple enough really."

Sasuke got a thoughtful expression and began to nod his head slowly. Naruto seemed to be trying to make sense of what Mayonaka had said. Naruto had gotten too excited for the second exam to think clearly. It was almost as if he had ADHD or something. Sasuke finally encountered a flaw in the plan. "What happens if we don't find anything by sundown? And who's gonna take care of the scroll?"

Mayonaka already had a solution. "If we don't find anything by sundown, we get back together and keep searching. I'll take the scroll because, no offense, but I'm the most capable of hiding it." Sasuke shrugged and tossed her the scroll. It was just small enough to fit down her shirt unnoticed but big enough that it wouldn't fall out. Both Naruto and Sasuke blushed and looked away as she stuffed it down her shirt.

Mayonaka smirked as she made telepathic contact to say one last thing before leaping into the trees, 'You two seriously need to get over the fact that you've got a girl on your team.'

* * *

It was about noon and no one had found anything yet. Mayonaka had already stopped to eat lunch. Naruto still wasn't finished and Sasuke was just stopping now. Every minute or so, Mayonaka urged Naruto to hurry up. Naruto just sort of grunted and continued eating. Mayonaka figured that if he didn't hurry up soon, she'd go over and make him hurry up.

Suddenly, Mayonaka smelled a strong bloodlust in the air. She started over in the direction of the smell and hoped to God it was coming from people and not some weird animal. As she got closer, she felt the kind of thick tension in the air that one feels before a fight. Mayonaka got only a few yards away and leapt behind a nearby bush, scaring Kiba, Hinata and Shino half to death.

"Geez Mayonaka! What'd you do that for?! I nearly had a heart attack!"

"Sorry Kiba. What's going on here?" Mayonaka looked over the top of the bush and gasped. In the middle of the clearing was Gaara's team and they were facing an opposing squad. Mayonaka listened in on what Kankurou was saying.

"Listen, Gaara, they have the same scroll as us. See?"

"It doesn't matter. He looked at me the wrong way. He's going to die."

Mayonaka's face went pale. He really was a cold-blooded killer.

"Mayo-chan. Mayo-chan! Mayonaka!"

"Huh? What?" Kiba had been trying to get her attention while she was staring at Gaara. As she turned around, she found him in a fighting stance with a kunai in his hand. Shino and Hinata were also in fighting stances.

"Mayonaka…I don't want to attack you but if you have the scroll we need I will."

Mayonaka sighed in relief. She had already checked their thoughts and found that they also had an earth scroll. "Don't worry, we both have earth scrolls." The other team relaxed slightly and went back to watching the impending fight. Mayonaka finally noticed that Akamaru was trembling with fear inside Kiba's jacket. "Kiba, what's wrong with Akamaru? He doesn't get that scared easily."

Kiba looked down at the shaking pup and began stroking his head worriedly. "He can smell the strength of other ninja. He says that the redhead there has unimaginable and terrifying power. It's really freaking him out." Mayonaka looked back over the bush and saw a shower of senbon needles plummeting towards Gaara from one of those black umbrellas before a barrier of sand blocked them. Gaara didn't even move a muscle and neither did his siblings. Mayonaka wondered what was going on behind those cold eyes of his.

Suddenly, Akamaru whined as some of Gaara's sand shot out and coated the ninja who had thrown the needles. Mayonaka recognized the move from Gaara's memories. Her face went pale as she realized what was about to happen. Gaara lifted the ninja into the air while his comrades watched in horror on the ground; they knew their teammate was about to die. Waves of sheer terror were rolling off of Mayonaka's friends as they watched from behind the bush. Gaara picked up the umbrella from before and held it over his head as if it were raining. Mayonaka closed her eyes and turned away just as Gaara clenched his fist in front of him and the sand imploded, crushing the ninja leaving nothing but bloodstained sand.

Mayonaka and her friends sat down with their backs to the bush. Mayonaka tried to control her violent shaking as she stared at the looks of horror on her friends' faces. Gaara told the ninja's teammates that they needn't worry, he had used more force than necessary and the ninja had died without pain. Mayonaka peered over the bush again to see if Gaara's expression had changed into a smirk since he was mocking someone. She was surprised to find that it hadn't changed at all; he was completely serious! 'I hate to admit it, but this kid is messed up! He just killed someone for looking at him wrong, then told his friends not to worry like nothing bad had happened! What the hell am I going to do with him?!'

Suddenly, Gaara moved his arm so that his palm was facing the four Konoha genin. They ducked back down behind the bush, afraid that Gaara had seen them and praying to God he hadn't. Mayonaka took the risk of venturing into his mind to see if he really had seen them or not. When she made contact, she expected screaming as usual. Mayonaka had finally realized the screaming was Shukaku from Gaara's memories. What she didn't' expect at all was Shukaku _purring_! It seemed pleased by the innocent blood spilled.

Mayonaka was disturbed and slightly disgusted until she realized that she and her demon used to be exactly the same way before she had gotten control over her bloodlust. Since Shukaku was remaining so calm, Mayonaka could hear Gaara's thoughts much more clearly. He didn't appear to have seen them and Mayonaka visibly relaxed. The problem was, his team had a heaven scroll. Mayonaka tensed up again and broke contact just before a large cork soared over her head, carried by sand.

'What the hell?' Mayonaka peered through the bush instead of over it this time knowing the chances of one of the other ninja seeing her had raised considerably. The cork soared over towards Gaara and wedged itself in the opening in his gourd. She relaxed slightly as she turned around again. She suddenly realized she had forgotten to breathe and let out the held breath as she examined the faces of her friends.

They were in shock. She gave them each a little shake to get them out of their trances. "You guys should go on ahead. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. You all need to get heaven scrolls anyway." Kiba began to protest until Mayonaka silenced him with her signature death glare. He didn't seem all that willing to leave her until she really convinced him she'd be fine. "Kiba, I can take care of myself. You know that. Everyone in Konoha knows that. If I do get into trouble, I can call on Naruto and Sasuke and they'll be by my side in an instant. Now you guys _need _to get out of here. _I _wouldn't be willing to fight these guys, and that's saying something." Kiba nodded and disappeared into the darkness of the forest with the rest of his team.

Suddenly the panicked sound of Naruto's thoughts interrupted her own. 'Mayonaka! Come quick! Get Sasuke too!' She instantly pinpointed his location and locked on. Before she did anything else she made sure Sasuke was coming.

'Sasuke! Naruto's in trouble! He's about two miles northeast of where you are now. Hurry; he sounded panicky.' Sasuke started towards Naruto without responding. Mayonaka suddenly realized she would have to go through the large clearing if she wanted to get to Naruto very quickly at all. Gaara's team had not yet left and she didn't think waiting for them would be a good idea.

Mayonaka took a breath, sprouted her wings and with one giant flap, she was in the air. She flew not far about the heads of the ninja in the clearing. She had just about gotten back into the trees when something grabbed her ankle. She turned around mid-flight and hissed like an angry reptile. She looked back and saw sand covering her foot and ankle and slowly beginning to creep up her calf. She looked at Gaara who was giving her a death glare that could rival even hers. He was obviously still pissed off about that guy looking at him wrong and just wanted to kill something else.

She glared right back at him as she began to get pissed off as well. She wanted to say, "You bastard," but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was another angry hiss. The grip of the sand tightened around her leg when Kankurou asked, "What scroll do you have?" Mayonaka took a deep breath and felt the roiling heat well up insinde her lungs. She managed to get out, "Earth you bastard! Now go piss off!" before a stream of blue fire erupted from her mouth. The foliage around the clearing began to smoke as the water evaporated from the leaves and the grass turned from green to black in an instant. Kankurou and Temari each took a step back out of surprise but Gaara remained firmly planted where he was.

Mayonaka felt a sudden crushing pain in her foot and ankle and as her leg flinched back, she realized the sand no longer had a grip on her. She cut off the stream of fire even though she could have sustained it longer. As she turned around again and began slipping between the higher up branches on the trees, she made sure that Gaara, Temari, and Kankurou could see her middle finger stuck high up in the air in their direction.

Mayonaka looked down at the bloody stump that was left of her right ankle as she flew away and let out a heavy sigh. "God damn it! Those shoes were brand new too." She let out another exasperated sigh as her gekai set to work on regenerating her foot. She thought it best if she told Sasuke and Naruto she was on her way; Sasuke was bound to have caught up with Naruto by now. 'Sorry I'm taking so long guys. I got tied up with something and I'll be there in a minute or two.' Neither of them responded and Mayonaka could tell they were about to battle something. The beat of her wings quickened.

* * *

"Shit! God damn you Naruto! You always get us into trouble!" Mayonaka had just arrived at the clearing where Naruto was. Her foot had completely healed and she had kicked off her other shoe knowing it would have eventually gotten on her nerves. Right now she was facing a female Grass country ninja who somehow knew the jounin level technique of blocking out telepaths. The reason Mayonaka was facing this ninja was because Naruto had seen that she had a heaven scroll and attacked. He had bitten off more than he could chew.

"I'm sorry Mayonaka! She had a heaven scroll!"

"God damn it Naruto! Haven't we told you over and over to evaluate the strength of your opponent _before _blindly leaping into battle?!"

"Guys! Shut up! We have more pressing matters at the moment!" Mayonaka looked back over at the ninja and saw that Sasuke was right; she was poised like a snake ready to attack. 'Fuck! I just know this won't end well.'

Curse Mark…

They had been engaged in heated battle for hours now. The sun was beginning to set, Naruto had disappeared after the attack of a giant snake, Mayonaka was pinned to a tree for the time being by several kunai knives, and Sasuke was beginning to think about running away. This ninja was not normal. This exam was for genin who wanted to become chuunin, but this chick was above way above even ANBU level!

Mayonaka had lost contact with Naruto when the snake attacked him. She was scanning the whole forest but she couldn't find him anywhere. She knew he wouldn't give up that easily, but she feared for the worst. The only reason she couldn't make contack with someone was if they were dead. She finally found him a couple of miles away.

'Naruto, where the fuck are you god damn it?! We need help now!'

'I'm sorry! I got swallowed by a snake!'

Mayonaka couldn't help but think of the phrase "the dog ate my homework." 'Well, I haven't heard that one before, but it's still not much of an excuse. Use an explosive seal or something. Just hurry!'

Mayonaka broke contact and began trying to free herself from the kunai knives. She was just about to free herself, not five minutes later, when Naruto finally showed up. Mayonaka began mumbling to herself the way she always did when she got frustrated. "It's about fucking time. The bastard sure as hell took long enough." As she pulled the last kunai from her skin, she dropped about ten feet and landed on a branch below. Up above, the Grass ninja had summoned another monstrously oversized snake. 'What is with this woman and snakes?'

The snake was about to strike Sasuke when Naruto jumped in the way, obviously pissed that the thought of running away had even crossed Sasuke's mind for a moment. Naruto didn't need mind reading to tell; it was written all over Sasuke's face. Mayonaka was surprised Naruto had been able to stop the snake on his own, that is, she was surprised until she took a closer look at him. The whisker-like lines on his face were etched deeper into the skin. His irises were a bright red while the pupils had formed into thin slits. And his already bristly hair began to look a lot more like straw than hair because of how much it bristled. The Kyuubi was beginning to take over.

Suddenly, the Grass ninja lashed out with…her tongue?! 'Holy shit! What the fuck _is _this woman?! Her tongue is like…forty feet long!' She wrapped her tongue around Naruto's waist and slammed him into a tree knocking him unconscious. She then held his limp body in the air before hers. She lifted his jacket and shirt with her tongue to reveal the 4th Hokage's seal around his navel. She then created a new seal on top of that one and tossed Naruto aside.

Mayonaka leapt down through the trees to catch Naruto before he hit the ground or a branch. He had screamed in pain when the tongue-lady had put the second seal on him, but he hadn't awoken. 'Damn it Naruto! If we live through this, I'm going to kill you and eat your liver!' Mayonaka felt the heat of one of the Uchiha's signature fire-style jutsus when she finally caught Naruto; Sasuke was fighting on his own. 'Shit! We can't get separated!'

Mayonaka slung Naruto over her shoulder and leapt through the trees back towards Sasuke. She returned just in time to see the Grass ninja stretch out her neck and bite Saskuke right above his left shoulder. 'Great! Now instead of just tongue and snakes, she's a tongue, snake, vampire, lady, _thing_! What the hell?!' Sasuke shrieked in pain and Mayonaka leapt over in time to catch him on her other shoulder when he collapsed, unconscious. A strange bruise-like mark that looked oddly like a 666 formed on Sasuke's shoulder near the sit of the bite.

Mayonaka looked back over in the direction of the Grass ninja but she had already disappeared. Carved on the tree where she had stood was the message, "My name is Orochimaru and he will seek me out in his quest for power." Mayonaka looked back at the still unconscious Naruto, let out an exasperated sigh, and shook her head.

"Naruto, you are so dead when you wake up." Mayonaka bounded through the trees towards the original clearing the team had found. She found a spot in between several trees where she could see the whole clearing and there was still room to take care of the two boys. Mayonaka set up camp and prepared to keep watch over the wounded ninja.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I have entwined this story with one of my friend's stories so the plotline and characters may be different from the show from here on out!

Sound Ninja…

Sasuke had a fever and several injuries. Naruto also had several injuries but they were already healing. Mayonaka healed what she could with her gekai then went to fetch some cold water to help reduce Sasuke's fever. It had taken her the rest of the night to set up camp and create genjutsu barriers that would hide Sasuke and Naruto from the other ninja in the forest. She was exhausted from fighting all night and getting no sleep but sleep was a luxury she couldn't currently afford.

Mayonaka finally came across a cold, bubbling stream and filled up her water bottles. She also caught some fish to eat while the boys were unconscious; Naruto had packed cup ramen, Sasuke packed food pills, and Mayonaka hadn't packed anything, knowing she could catch her own food. Plus she didn't want to eat up the boys' food; they'd be hungry when they finally woke up.

Mayonaka arrived back at the campsite, put a wet rag on Sasuke's forehead, and began to cook herself a fish.

* * *

It was about 11:00 am of the third day since they entered the forest. Sasuke and Naruto were still unconscious. Although, something weird was happening to Sasuke; a strange purple chakra had begun to guild up around his body. The good thing was that his fever had finally gone down.

Since the boys got knocked out, Mayonaka hadn't slept at all and it was finally wearing on her, especially since she was due for her period. While she was taking care of Naruto and Sasuke, she had also kept an eye out for any passing ninja. One team had made camp about half a mile away. They were Sound ninja who were looking for Sasuke and they seemed to be working for that Orochimaru man.

Mayonaka was running out of chakra to power the genjutsu that hid her camp and she didn't think she could face these guys on her own. She decided to seek out help from any Konoha ninja that had an earth scroll. She didn't have enough chakra or concentration left to stretch her mind out that far from the campsite but she had enough to power the genjutsu for several more hours. She restocked the genjutsu's power supply, put a fresh rag on Sasuke's forehead, and left a note explaining the situation in case the boys woke up while she was gone.

* * *

Mayonaka had been searching for about an hour now and was beginning to lose hope. She had found Shikamaru's squad but they had a heaven scroll. Mayonaka had grown up in an environment where trust was a thing of pretend, and thus learned to never fully trust anybody. She had also come across another squad that had Konoha headbands, but she didn't know them and decided to not bother even though they had an earth scroll.

That squad had consisted of Neji Hyuuga, Hinata's cousin. She was able to gather from their thoughts that the one in the green spandex with the bowl cut and thick eyebrows was Rock Lee. The girl was called Amatsu and their trainer was Gai-sensei. They were also all one year older than all the other Konoha genin still in the exam. Mayonaka could've sworn that Neji saw her with his byakugan, the Hyuuga clan's kekei-genkai which was much like her metsuki-kyoudai. If he did see her, he didn't do anything.

Kiba's squad had already gotten a heaven scroll and had gone to the tower. The only other Konoha squad was Mayonaka's. She knew she could never bring herself to attack Shikamaru's team if she needed their scroll, but she didn't know if they would return the favor. 

Mayonaka decided to just go back to camp and wait out the rest of the exam. She knew Naruto and Sasuke would try to kill her later because of it but she had no other options.

Mayonaka got back to camp and let the genjutsu wear itself out. She replaced the rag on Sasuke's forehead and crumpled up the note she had left. Sasuke's fever had gone down slightly more but there was a lot more of the strange, swirling purple chakra. Naruto merely needed to wake up. Mayonaka was absolutely exhausted; she'd gone without any sleep for days. As she sat down to find a way out of her predicament, she just passed out from how tired she was.

* * *

When Mayonaka regained consciousness, she could instantly tell that something was wrong. The sun was low in the east, meaning she had slept through the rest of the day, through the night and now it was morning. She could also tell that a battle was brewing in the middle of the clearing.

Mayonaka instantly sat up and snapped open her eyes. As she sat up she felt the scroll digging into her chest and felt relieved that it was still there. When she had opened her eyes, everything was blurred. As she tried to raise her arm to rub the sleep from them she found that it had fallen asleep because at one time she had rolled on top of it. Mayonaka's ears were ringing but she heard someone's voice.

"Mayonaka! Are you awake?"

"No. I'm dead and this voice is just a figment of your imagination. Now what the hell is going on?!" Mayonaka recognized the voice but couldn't tell who it was. She knew they had met before and thus, whoever it was would be used to her sarcastic remarks. She could sense the presence of eight other people besides herself. Two were unconscious; Sasuke and Naruto. The other six were about to fight.

"Well, we showed up about two minutes before these guys tried to attack you guys. Now what did you do to piss them off?"

Mayonaka's vision finally cleared and she saw Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji facing the Sound ninja in fighting stances. "Damn it Shikamaru, what makes you think it's always _my_ fault?! Don't you suppose it could possibly be that _they_ merely attacked _us_?!" Mayonaka snapped at Shikamaru for no apparent reason.

Shikamaru mumbled, "Troublesome woman," under his breath but Mayonaka was just able to hear it.

"Troublesome _woman_?!" Mayonaka's voice cracked on "woman." She stood up and began to analyze the situation. 'Okay, let's see…three against three-and-a-half; I'm not in the best of shape at the moment. Shikamaru's squad either doesn't know I have an earth scroll or they don't care. These Sound ninja seem strong and they want to kidnap Sasuke. Why does this sort of thing always happen to _me_?!' Mayonaka let out a sigh, pulled out a kunai from the pack tied around her leg and crouched down, ready to attack. "Okay, let's do this."

* * *

'Okay…I think I did something to piss off God.' The fight was not going well. Ino was knocked out, Shikamaru and Chouji were preoccupied, and Mayonaka was pinned to a tree…again. Mayonaka was also running dangerously low on chakra. She was ready to give up and just hand Sasuke over; he was such a bastard anyway.

Suddenly, a purple explosion rattled the ground where Sasuke and Naruto had been laying. The force of the explosion tore the kunai knives that pinned her down from Mayonaka's arms and legs. She hit the ground rolling and her head smashed into another tree. When she looked back up she thought the swirling purple chakra was from her blurred vision, but when it didn't go away she got worried.

'That's the chakra that had surrounded Sasuke while he was unconscious! Something feels weird about it, unnatural.' Sasuke stood up inside the mini hurricane of chakra. Mayonaka didn't have a clear view, but something seemed different about him. Mayonaka ran for the clearing. She let out a strange sort of gasping sound as Sasuke stepped into the light and she got a better view.

His sharingan was activated and little black marks covered his face and the whole left side of his body. 'Okay…this is _definitely_ not good.' Sasuke attacked the Sound ninja with full force, doing more damage than Mayonaka, Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino could do together. Mayonaka could also tell that he wasn't fighting to protect but merely to kill.

Sasuke was on the last ninja; he was pulling on the ninja's arms from behind with his foot on their back. Mayonaka heard sickening snapping and crunching noises as tendons tore and bones broke. He didn't stop there and continued pulling; he wouldn't be satisfied unless they were all dead. Mayonaka couldn't take it anymore.

"God damn it Sasuke stop! Look at what you're doing! This isn't what being a ninja is about!" Sasuke didn't respond at all. He was hell bent on killing this guy! Mayonaka ran up and tried to grab him from behind so she could throw him away from the other ninja. She was so used up she was only able to put her hand on his shoulder, lean over to his ear and whisper, "Sasuke, that's enough. Just stop."

Sasuke finally dropped the ninja. The black marks receded and his sharingan deactivated. Mayonaka let her hand slip back to her side as she surveyed the unconscious Sound ninja. She took a look with her metsuki-kyoudai and began chuckling to herself. Shikamaru looked at her as if she had just gone absolutely loopy. "All of us just about died…and you're laughing. Did your parents by any chance drop you on the head when you were a baby?"

"I'm laughing because I think it's funny that God can't make up His mind on whether or not to hate me or love me." Shikamaru could only stare at her, not quite getting what she said. "You see, all of this shit happens to us as soon as we set foot into this forest, and now, these people have a heaven scroll!" Mayonaka burst into hysterical fits of laughter because she just needed to release the tension.

Shikamaru just looked at the ground and shook his head. "Mayonaka, I honestly think you've lost it this time." Laughter suddenly turned to gasping sobs as the stress of the past few days finally caught up with Mayonaka. "Mayo-chan! I'm sorry! I didn't really mean it!"

"No Shikamaru it wasn't that. The stress of the past few days finally caught up with me and it just slapped me in the face. Just give me a minute." Mayonaka went to sit in the shade of a tree at the edge of the clearing as the tears continued to roll down her cheeks without showing any signs of stopping. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the tree, hoping she could just sit there for the rest of eternity when Sasuke decided to join her.

"What the hell do you want Cockatoo?"

Sasuke sat down beside her and stared into the branches of the tree. "Don't tell Naruto about the mark on my shoulder. He doesn't need to know and if he does, he'll make a mess of things by worrying over me."

Mayonaka sat up straight and whipped her head in Sasuke's direction causing her neck to pop like a knuckle. "What?! He has every right to know; you're his _teammate_ for God's sake! Sasuke, this doesn't have to be a one man show. Naruto and I care about you and when something weird like this happens, we want to know about it. We'll always be there for you whether you like it or not." Sasuke just stared at Mayonaka, but she couldn't quite read his expression. She decided it was mandatory to tell Naruto about the mark when Sasuke suddenly cringed and grasped his shoulder where the mark was as if someone had just stabbed him.

"See Sasuke! There's something weird about that thing and it obviously hurts. Now let me take a look at it." Sasuke turned slightly so his back faced Mayonaka. She pulled down his collar so as to see the mark more clearly. Mayonaka let out a frustrated growl as she realized that neither of her kekei-genkai could really tell her anything more.

"What is it?" Mayonaka let out another growl before letting go of Sasuke's collar, leaning back against the tree and crossing her arms. "Mayo-chan, what is it?"

"It's that damn mark! I have no _fucking_ clue what it is! It's…it's…weird. That's the only word I can think of that might describe it." Mayonaka stormed off towards Shikamaru's group in a huff. "Hey, are you guys alright?" Shikamaru and Chouji both looked up from tending to the still unconscious Ino. Shikamaru gave Mayonaka a worried look.

"Shouldn't you be taking care of your team? You are the medic-nin aren't you?"

"I already checked up on Sasuke who just pissed me off and Naruto hasn't moved an inch so I'm assuming he's still fine…minus the unconsciousness. How's Ino doing?" Shikamaru returned his attention to Ino who, almost as if on cue, mumbled something about Sasuke in her sleep. 'I don't even _want_ to know what she's doing in her dream.'

"Well, she possessed the female Sound ninja with her jutsu and hasn't regained consciousness since them. There doesn't seem to be anything physically wrong with her, but I'm not a medic."

"Here, let me take a look at her." Mayonaka knelt down next to Shikamaru and activated her metsuki-kyoudai to look for any injuries. Whenever she found one she activated her gekai and used the least amount of chakra she could to heal it. After she healed the last wound Mayonaka deactivated both kekei-genkai and sat back against a tree, her chest heaving up and down in rhythm with her labored breathing. "I've done all I can. She has to wake up on her own."

Shikamaru spoke in a worried tone. "Mayonaka, are you alright?"

Mayonaka let out an exhausted sigh before responding in a reassuring tone. "Don't worry Shika-kun, I'm just fine. I'm just really low on chakra right now. I'll be fine once I get some rest." Shikamaru knew he wasn't going to get anywhere so he and Chouji thanked Mayonaka for helping with Ino before disappearing into the forest to complete the exam.

Mayonaka walked over to Sasuke who was eating his food pills to help replenish his strength. Mayonaka slung the still unconscious Naruto over her back piggy-back style before saying, "C'mon Sasuke. I don't want to be around when these Sound ninja wake up. Besides, I know where a stream is where we can get some fish instead of those nasty food pills."

Sasuke packed up his things and followed Mayonaka as she bounded into the trees, leaving the unconscious Sound ninja to fend on their own. Halfway to the stream, Naruto _finally_ woke up. Apparently, he thought he was still fighting with the Grass ninja so as soon as he woke up he started kicking and punching Mayonaka who ended up running into a tree. They both fell to the ground, soon followed by Sasuke who had cracked up and quit paying attention to where he was going. Mayonaka sat up and rubbed her head where she had hit a branch on the way down. "Naruto, I swear to God, I am going to _kill_ you!"

Naruto sat up with such a look of complete confusion and bewilderment that Mayonaka couldn't help but laugh. After she calmed down, Mayonaka leapt back into the trees and, on their way to the stream, explained to Naruto what had happened while he was unconscious. She made sure to not leave out the weird mark on Sasuke's shoulder but Naruto had somehow convinced himself that it was an ordinary bruise.

They stopped at a small clearing on the edge of the stream. Mayonaka immediately pulled the earth scroll out of her shirt and tossed it over by her things; it had been poking her in the chest all morning and it was driving her crazy. She then gathered some wood and sat down to make a fire while Naruto and Sasuke tried to catch some fish. Half an hour later, they still hadn't caught one fish. Mayonaka was ravenous and decided to take things into her own hands. She walked over to the stream, pushed Sasuke out of the way, and pulled Naruto out of the water.

"Let me do it. I'm faster and both of you are still recovering." Naruto began to protest but Mayonaka silenced him with a glare that would have made even Kakashi stop in his tracks. Mayonaka forced Naruto and Sasuke to go wait by the fire she had gotten going. Naruto didn't even bother putting on the rest of his clothes and sat down in his boxers. Mayonaka turned back to the stream, stripped down to her black sports bra and black spandex shorts she had begun wearing under her denim shorts a few weeks ago, and jumped into the cold water after sprouting the Tokage-jogoku's gills. About five minutes later, six fish jumped out of the water and landed on the ground, flopping around, soon followed by Mayonaka.

"So…who's hungry?"

* * *

While eating her second fish, Mayonaka took a moment to assess her squad's current situation. When Naruto and Sasuke finished eating she decided to confront them with what she thought was the best plan of action. "Naruto, Sasuke, I think I've got an idea for finishing this part of the exam. First off, we need to rest and recover from our last two fights because there are _bound_ to be plenty of ninja waiting around the tower to make an ambush on anyone who comes near. I'll admit, we do have an advantage with my metsuki-kyoudai and telepathy, but those aren't a 100 percent guarantee. Not to mention I've gotten almost no sleep for the past few days and am _incredibly _low on chakra so the chances are much higher that I'd miss something.

"I propose that we take the rest of today to sleep, taking turns on watch duty, and then once it's dark, we head to the tower. After we rest we'll only have tonight and tomorrow morning to get to the tower with both of our scrolls or we'll be disqualified. I suggest that I keep both scrolls again. Any objections?"

Mayonaka looked at both Naruto and Sasuke who didn't seem to find anything wrong with her plan. "Good. I'll set my watch alarm for 7 tonight when we'll set off for the tower. That gives us about…5 hours of rest. I'll take first watch. Ever hour we'll switch. When I'm done I'll wake up Naruto and when he's done he'll get Sasuke, so on and so forth."

While Naruto and Sasuke both lied down under the shade of the trees to go back to sleep, Mayonaka sat down in a patch of sun and activated her metsuki-kyoudai to keep watch. Halfway through her watch Mayonaka got dressed again as the wind began to pick up. She watched as ominous thunderheads began to gather in the darkening sky. During the rest of her watch, Mayonaka set up a tent to keep her and her teammates dry. Mayonaka walked over to wake up Naruto. "Wake up Naruto. It's your watch. There's about to be a thunderstorm so I suggest you get dressed and stay under the tent." Naruto groaned when she kicked him in the side. When he finally started moving, Mayonaka crawled into her sleeping bag and immediately fell into a deep, dream-ridden sleep.

The Tower…

Mayonaka's watch alarm went off right next to her ear causing her to jump up, get tangled in her blankets, and fall on top of Sasuke who also jolted awake and, quite a bit more gracefully, jumped out of his sleeping bag, tripped over a large rock, and fell on his butt. A bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, quickly followed by a crack of thunder which was almost drowned out by the sound of Naruto's snoring.

Mayonaka laid, tangled in her sleeping bag, and tried to regain her scrambled thoughts. Sasuke seemed to be doing the same thing. As she listened to the pattering of the rain on their tent, Mayonaka realized that Naruto must have fallen asleep during his watch. Mayonaka was absolutely fuming. She walked over to Naruto, kicked him in the side and screamed, "Naruto! Get up you dumbass!" right up in his face.

Naruto opened his eyes just as another bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the tent and adding an eerie look to Mayonaka's face, three inches form Naruto's. Screaming, Naruto jumped out of his sleeping bag and yelled, "HOLY SHIT! SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME!" at the top of his lungs.

"You know, I would but we don't have time. We need to get going. This rain is bound to slow us down." Mayonaka quickly gathered her things and slung her pack over her shoulder while Naruto and Sasuke did the same. In the two minutes it took to disassemble the tent and pack it up, all three genin were soaked to the bone; the rain was freezing, there was an icy wind, no sun to warm them, and the trees provided no protection whatsoever.

The thunder drowned out all noise and the lighting frequently blinded them, but when they were just about to reach the tower, Mayonaka realized they hadn't come in contact with any other ninja. Either they had all finished already, or they weren't stupid enough to go out in this kind of a storm.

When they arrived at the tower they went inside to find an empty room except for an old-looking roll of parchment hung up on the wall. Mayonaka gave the honors of trying to decipher what the parchment said to Naruto and Sasuke while she attempted to dry off.

Mayonaka ripped out her ponytail and shook her head around like a dog. When she straightened up, her hair reached just past the top of her shoulders. She began to wring it out as a hissing sound issued form Naruto and Sasuke's general direction. The now unrolled heaven and earth scrolls she had given them to keep dry were hissing and smoking as the two boys tossed them aside realizing that there was a summoning jutsu on them. Mayonaka got in a fighting stance and shrieked, "What the hell did you guys do that for?!"

Naruto and Sasuke both got into fighting stances as well without response. A puff of smoke erupted from the summoning jutsu. As the smoke cleared, Mayonaka saw the familiar face of Iruka-sensei. Being sure that he had no intention of attacking, Mayonaka ran up to him and gave him a hug. "Iruka-sensei! I haven't seen you in ages!" And she really hadn't seen him since she became a genin. None of them had.

As she pulled away, Mayonaka noticed the large wet spot she had made on the front of Iruka's previously dry jacket. "Er…sorry Iruka-sensei. I just haven't seen you in so long." Mayonaka resumed wringing out her hair as she walked back towards Naruto and Sasuke, overly aware of the loud 'pat, pat' sounds her wet, bare feet made on the cold, concrete floor.

"It's alright Mayonaka-chan. I'm glad to know that some of my old students still think of me every now and then. As you may have already figured, I didn't come here to socialize; I came to tell you the meaning behind these heaven and earth scrolls." Mayonaka listened to Iruka's explanation of how the earth scroll represented the body and the heaven scroll represented the mind. He said that they needed both to complete any task. What he meant was that they had to train both muscles and try to increase intellect at the same time, otherwise they wouldn't get very far in life.

After Iruka's speech, Mayonaka, Naruto and Sasuke were escorted to a door that would lead to the rest of the tower where they would be given food and shelter until the rest of the genin made it. They were told to go directly to room seven and leave their belongings there while they waited. "Iruka-sensei?"

"Yes Mayo-chan?"

"Exactly how many other squads are there left?"

"We're still waiting for several other teams. You guys are actually the first to arrive since this storm started. Good luck on the rest of the exam!" The genin were ushered out of the room into a long hallway filled with doorways on either side. Each doorway had a yellow number painted above it. When they reached door seven, they turned on the light inside to find an apartment-like space. There were three cots, a stove, a table, and a plushy black carpet to greet them. Mayonaka immediately knew why they chose black as she trudged her muddy feet across the carpet.

Naruto started some ramen on the stove for all three of them. Mayonaka dropped her things on one of the cots and sat down. As Sasuke went into the bathroom, Mayonaka put her hair back up and stretched out on her cot. She counted the ceiling tiles as the smell of ramen slowly filled the room. Mayonaka's watch beeped as it struck midnight. As soon as she finished her ramen, Mayonaka got up to leave.

"Where are you going Mayo-chan?"

"Sorry Naruto. I'm just not tired. I'm gonna walk around and see if anyone else form Konoha is still up." Mayonaka left all her things in the room and began walking down the hallway. As she passed each doorway, she took a quick glance in to see if anyone was there. Several of them were occupied but none of them were from Konoha. On the second level, Mayonaka saw Neji Hyuuga's squad but they were fast asleep, obviously having gotten here much earlier. She also saw Shikamaru's squad but they all looked too tired to form a coherent phrase.

On the third level, Mayonaka suddenly became aware of a strangely familiar presence. She slowed down slightly as she approached the only room with a light on. As she passed in front of the door she was stopped by three unfriendly pairs of eyes staring at her. An involuntary growl escaped her chest when she saw the boy who had severed her foot just a few days ago. Mayonaka shifted slightly so that her right foot was in clear view and smirked at Temari's and Kankurou's shocked faces. For an instant, Mayonaka's eyes met with Gaara's and she saw the pure shock buried beneath his expressionless eyes. She turned and was once again overly aware of the 'pat, pat' sound of her bare feet on the concrete floor as she continued down the hallway.

On the fourth and final level of the tower, Mayonaka found Kiba's squad's room. Unfortunately, Akamaru was the only one awake. He jumped off of Kiba's cot and ran out, barking, to greet Mayonaka with a joyful leap into her arms and several licks to her face. He had quickly figured out that she would always have a treat for him. And thanks to her kekei-genkai, Mayonaka could also hear Akamaru's thoughts, but, seeing as he was a dog, they were quite a bit more difficult to decipher than a human's. While Akamaru attacked Mayonaka's face with his tongue, she pulled a small baggy of unseasoned beef jerky out of her back pocket. Akamaru let out a joyful yelp as Mayonaka opened the bag. "Shut-up Akamaru! You're gonna wake everybody up!"

Almost as if on cue, Kiba shifted around on his cot and opened his eyes. He was temporarily blinded by the light in the hallway, but as soon as he saw Mayonaka he smiled and quickly got out of bed to say "Hi!"

Mayonaka giggled at Kiba's bed head. "Hey, Kiba! Sorry about waking you up. We just got here and I was seeing if there was anyone to talk to besides Dumb and Dumbest. Akamaru kind of attacked me with his tongue as a greeting so I couldn't help but give him a snack." Mayonaka managed to give Akamaru a piece of jerky while she held him.

"So I guess you guys fared alright after the Suna ninja incident?"

"Er...well…sorta, kinda, yeah, maybe. It's a _really_ long story. Besides, Naruto and Sasuke will probably be wondering where I am." Mayonaka gave Akamaru back to Kiba and turned to leave.

"Wait. One more question."

Mayonaka turned around and smiled. "Shoot."

"Why are you barefoot?"

Mayonaka looked down at her filthy feet and sighed. "Amazingly enough, that's also a really long story. Well…not really but it's pretty damn weird."

"Try me."

"Okay…. You know my gekai? How I can heal stuff?"

"Yeah?"

"And you remember how G—that Suna ninja…crushed that guy?"

Kiba shuddered and Akamaru whined. "All too clearly. But…what's that got to do with you not having shoes?"

"I'm getting there! Well, anyway, Ga—the Suna ninja basically did that to my right foot. In a way, you could say he severed it. Well, when it healed, it didn't have a shoe anymore and the other one began to annoy me to hell so I took it off."

A look of complete shock played across Kiba's face. "What?! Are you _serious_?!" Kiba's voice cracked on "serious" and Mayonaka looked back down at her feet while she nodded. "Well, you got them back for it right?"

"I would have, but I was kind of preoccupied with saving Naruto's ass. Speaking of Naruto, I should really get back. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See ya." Mayonaka turned to go back downstairs as Kiba went back into his room. As Mayonaka approached Gaara's room, she intended to just walk right past without a second glance. Of course, as soon as she stepped in front of the doorway, she tripped over her own two feet and fell flat on her face. Gaara and Temari smirked and Mayonaka could've sworn she heard a snort come from Kankurou. Mayonaka merely got up and tried to raise her dignity from the dead.

Mayonaka jogged the rest of the way to her team's room, only to get another surprise when she arrived. Inside was the silver-haired boy with the glasses who had sat to her right during the written exam. "Um, hi. Who are you?" Mayonaka went inside and sat on her cot while she waited for a response from the boy.

"Hey, Mayo-chan! Want some tea?"

"What? Oh…uh, sure. Thanks Naruto." Mayonaka returned her attention to the silver haired boy while she sipped her tea. "Well? What…are you mute or something?"

"His name is Kabuto and we met him just before the written exam began while you were talking with Shikamaru." Sasuke rolled back over on his cot, obviously annoyed that he'd been awoken.

"Alright then. Thank you Sasuke. Now if you all don't mind…I _seriously_ need some sleep." Mayonaka finished her tea, burning her tongue in the process, and curled up on her cot, facing the wall. She set her watch alarm to eight in the morning giving her four hours to get ready for whatever happened at the end of the exam and gave her seven hours of sleep; it was already one in the morning. Mayonaka fell asleep wondering if the written exam really was only five days ago. It felt more like five months.


	10. Chapter 10

Preliminaries…

Once again, Mayonaka's watch alarm went off right next to her ear causing her to jump up, fall out of bed, and crash to the floor. 'Well, at least I didn't land on Emo Cockatoo this time. But I really got to quit doing that.' Neither Naruto nor Sasuke had gotten up yet. Mayonaka seized the opportunity to take a shower. Upon undressing in the bathroom, Mayonaka discovered she had started her period overnight. 'Oh…well that's just great. Well…I suppose it's better than in the middle of that part in the forest.'

Mayonaka finished showering and came out of the bathroom half an hour later to find Naruto and Sasuke still sleeping. 'I'll get them up when they'll need to be.' Mayonaka ate some cup-ramen and began walking through the halls again. When she reached the third floor after finding that only Neji's squad was up, Mayonaka wondered whether it was better to pass Gaara's room, knowing he was an insomniac due to the dark circles around his eyes, to see if Kiba's squad was up, or go back down and wait for Naruto and Sasuke to wake up…'Yeah. No doubt about it. It's worth the risk.'

Mayonaka walked past his room with as much confidence as she could. Her cheeks flushed as she remembered tripping last night. As she passed in front of the darkened doorway she felt a pair of eyes burning a hole in the back of her skull. Mayonaka broke into a jog as soon as she figured she was out of earshot. Of course, Kiba's squad wasn't up yet; not even Akamaru. 'Great. Just great. Now I get to walk past Gaara's room _again_ and wait for the two dimwits to wake up. Boy what a wonderful day this is turning out to be.'

As Mayonaka stepped in front of Gaara's room, she again felt his eyes boring into her head. Only this time, without moving at all, she looked over into the darkness of Gaara's room from the corner of her eyes, glaring at him. He didn't break eye contact so Mayonaka decided to take it one step further and activated her metsuki-kyoudai. Her irises and pupils vanished leaving only the whites of her eyes. She could also now see Gaara clearly in the darkness. Again, she saw a glimmer of shock behind his eyes as she had when he saw she still had a foot. Mayonaka resisted the urge to smile and refused to break eye contact.

After a while, Mayonaka thought she saw the slightest flickers of confusion and curiosity in his eyes. It was very hard to read his expressions and she didn't want to take the chance of reading his mind again. Suddenly, Mayonaka saw movement behind Gaara. Temari had woken up. Mayonaka deactivated her metsuki-kyoudai and continued down the hallway. She didn't really feel like being caught randomly staring at a guy who had severed her foot several days earlier.

On the second level, Mayonaka found that Shikamaru's squad was still asleep, but Neji's squad was awake and had begun to pack up their things. 'Well, people are always saying to make new friends. And it's better than waiting for Naruto and Emo Cockatoo. Might as well give it a shot.' Mayonaka walked over to the doorway and knocked on the frame. All three turned and looked at her, waiting for her to say something. Her face flushed as she realized that waiting for Naruto and Sasuke didn't seem like that bad of an idea. But there was no backing out now.

"Um…hi. Do you mind if I join you? Everyone else is asleep and I can't stand silence."

Neji immediately turned back around and continued packing. Amatsu gave her a curious look. But Rock Lee put down his things, smiled, and held out a hand for Mayonaka to shake. "Of course! I am Rock Lee and this is Neji and Amatsu."

Mayonaka also smiled and shook his hand. "Glad to meet you. I'm Mayonaka. My teammates are still asleep though. And I couldn't help noticing that you all were a year older than the other genin of Konoha. Why is that?"

"Oh. Our trainer, Gai-sensei, had decided during last year's chuunin exams that we were not ready, and so he did not enter us in the exam until this year." Mayonaka and Lee talked for about a half hour about the best training techniques and their highest personal records. Eventually they got to explaining their fighting styles. Lee explained that he could only use taijutsu but he promised to become a splendid ninja nonetheless. Mayonaka said she just kind of went with the flow. She'd try her best and whatever happened, happened. Ama chimed in and said that she preferred to use taijutsu as well but would be willing to use her chakra if she found it necessary.

"Ama-chan, you should use your chakra more often; it is incredibly powerful and is a gift!"

"Lee-san, you know I don't like to. Besides, I'm almost as good at taijutsu as you!" Mayonaka saw Neji stop packing, turn around and sit on his cot to watch his teammates argue. She could tell he was thoroughly enjoying it.

"Ama-chan, why can you not just at least tell me why you refuse to use your chakra?"

Mayonaka suddenly felt a rise in temperature in the room and she saw an unusual spark of internal flame arise in Ama's brown eyes as her brow furrowed in anger and annoyance. "I've told you why before Lee. You'll just have to deal with that explanation for now." Ama turned back around and continued packing, although, she was being a bit more reckless.

Lee turned back to Mayonaka with an apologetic look. "I am sorry Mayonaka-chan. That was a touchy subject and I should not have started an argument in front of you. You will have to forgive Ama-chan as well; she does have a bit of a temper." Seeing no more signs of a fight, Neji turned back around and resumed packing as well.

"No problem Lee. Don't worry about it. I'm actually kind of lost anyway so it doesn't matter." The truth was, Mayonaka wasn't really paying much attention to what was going on around her. She was deep in thought. 'Am I just overanalyzing this? Could Amatsu really be…? No! It's impossible! She couldn't be! Could she?' Mayonaka glanced at her watch and found it was only 9:30.

Mayonaka said goodbye to everyone and headed back to her own room to see if Naruto and Sasuke were up yet. She had also suddenly gotten very tired. 'Damn period. Why was I stupid enough to not bring any energy drinks? I am _such _a retard sometimes!' On her way back, Mayonaka saw the Sound ninja she had fought with in the forest. 'Holy hell! How the crap did they get two more scrolls?!' The one whose arms got broken by Sasuke had two slings and the other two still looked pretty beat up. Mayonaka tried to not let her surprise show on her face. As the ninja walked past they all smirked at her.

Mayonaka could only stand there in shock. After the ninja disappeared around the corner she shook her head to clear her thoughts. 'What an eventful morning; first I meet a could-be jinchuuriki and then I see three ninja back from the dead. I think that cup-ramen must've had something in it.' Mayonaka walked into her room to see Sasuke up, packed and having a shit attack. Naruto was still asleep. As soon as he saw her, Sasuke bombarded her with questions.

"Where the hell were you?! What were you doing?! Why didn't you wake up Naruto or me and tell us?! Didn't we say not to wander off?!"

"Calm down Sasuke. It's not like I was gonna die. I was just checking up on our friends and that other Konoha squad." Mayonaka sighed, plopped down on her cot, buried her face in her pillow and just lied there. Sasuke crossed his arms, gave Mayonaka a quick glare and started making himself some breakfast. Just as Mayonaka was about to fall asleep, Naruto let out a monstrous snore. Normally she wouldn't care, but Mayonaka was on a short fuse today. She growled and kicked Naruto's cot, crashing it into the wall where it flipped causing Naruto to crash to the floor. Sasuke burst out laughing and Naruto jumped up into a fighting stance with his eyes still half closed.

"What the hell just happened?! Who's there?!"

Mayonaka couldn't help but burst out laughing as well. Naruto stood there for a while, utterly confused. Once he figured out what had happened, Naruto glared at both Mayonaka and Sasuke before going to fix himself some ramen. When Mayonaka finally calmed down, she stretched out on her cot and closed her eyes. "Wake me up when they start doing something." As she drifted off to sleep, she tried to figure out what they would have in store next for all the genin.

* * *

"Mayo-chan wake up! We're gonna be late!" Mayonaka's eyes snapped open as she sat up in bed. She looked around and saw Naruto in a frenzy to pack his things and Sasuke calmly sitting on his cot, fully packed. She glanced at her watch and panicked when she saw that it was already noon.

"Fuck Naruto! Why the hell didn't you wake me up?! I'm not even _close_ to being packed damn it!" Mayonaka leapt off the bed and scrambled to gather all her belongings and shove them all into her suddenly too small bag, all the while muttering curses under her breath. Just as she was about to burst through the door in front of Naruto and Sasuke, a jounin appeared in the doorway. Mayonaka collided into the man and fell on top of Naruto and Sasuke. She looked up at the man's face and waited for an explanation.

The man looked a little surprised and readjusted the long toothpick in his mouth before plainly saying, "All genin are to report to the arena in five minutes." He then continued walking down the hallway to inform the other genin. Mayonaka stood up, slightly dazed, and helped Naruto and Sasuke up.

"Okay, now, where the fuck is the arena?" Naruto and Sasuke shrugged. Mayonaka let out an annoyed sigh and stepped out into the hallway looking for someone to ask. The man with the toothpick had already vanished and other genin whom she didn't know were beginning to fill the hallway. Finally, she saw three genin who she had met earlier; Neji, Lee, and Ama. "Hey! Hey guys!" Mayonaka ran up to them waving and smiling. She had to shove her way against the current of people heading to who knows where. She finally reached them and smiled asking, "Hey! Do you guys know where this arena is?" Naruto and Sasuke finally caught up with her.

"Mayo-chan, quit abandoning us!"

"Sorry Naruto. I just…I don't know." Mayonaka turned back to the older genin. "So…can you help us out?"

Lee grinned and answered, "Of course Mayonaka-chan! It would be a pleasure. Please just follow us."

Mayonaka bowed slightly. "Thank-you. We truly appreciate it. Lead the way!" Mayonaka followed as they continued walking with the crowd. Eventually, she fell back to walk beside Ama. She could feel it; Ama was different, she had an enormous amount of chakra. But Mayonaka could only come up with an incredibly improbable reason for why that might be. 'It's impossible! I've already met two others and if Ama-chan is one…that would make four! There are only eleven in total and there shouldn't be such a high concentration in one area. But how do I find out for sure?!'

Mayonaka argued with herself about how to find out. Asking her was definitely not an option; what if she didn't even know? Asking her teammates was also out of the question; not even Naruto or Sasuke knew of the Tokage-jigoku. Finally, she thought of something. 'I wonder…' She made telepathic contact with Naruto to find something out. Thankfully, he was too busy daydreaming about becoming a chuunin to even notice. And, she heard it; a faint growling in the darkest depths of his mind that had to be the Kyuubi. Mayonaka broke contact and smiled to herself.

'That's it! I'll check her mind! I just hope that if she has a demon, it won't be as pronounced as Gaara's.' Mayonaka decided to check Ama's mind when they were occupied with whatever they were gonna do in the arena seeing as they had finally arrived. All the genin were forced to line up with the rest of their group as the Hokage got up on an elevated bit of the floor to speak. Then, seconds into the Hokage's speech, Mayonaka vegged out, too tired to pay attention. She followed Naruto and Sasuke as they walked up the stairs to a balcony over the main level of the arena after the Hokage finished his speech. Mayonaka made telepathic contact with Sasuke, too damn lazy to even use her vocal chords.

'Er…Sasuke? I kinda vegged through that whole thing. Mind filling me in?'

'Why can't you ever just pay attention? Anyway, we're having a preliminary round of matches to lessen the number of genin who move on.' Mayonaka immediately broke contact.

'Oh well now that's just great. I'm so fucking tired that I can barely see straight and I'm supposed to fight someone who is very likely a _lot_ more capable of fighting than I am right now…. How fun.' Mayonaka slumped against the wall of the balcony and sat on the floor as names flashed across the screen to determine who would battle first. She prayed to God that it wouldn't be her and let out a sigh of relief when it said "Hyuuga Hinata vs. Hyuuga Neji." Naruto had a random shit attack and began to question whether the two were related when it was already obvious. Mayonaka wished Hinata luck as she walked past to go down to the arena.

When both Neji and Hinata got in stance, Mayonaka figured that then would be the best time to check if Ama really was a jinchuuriki or not. She tentatively broke into Ama's mind and heard something that shocked her badly; instead of ominous growls and animalistic screams, she heard ferocious cawing, like from a crow, but there was something else to it. Amatsu quickly glanced in Mayonaka's direction with a puzzled expression on her face causing Mayonaka to break contact. She closed her eyes, resting her head against the wall behind her as the battle in the arena raged on. She heard Naruto rooting for Hinata and smiled. After taking some time to analyze the bird-like noises coming from Ama's thoughts, she came to the conclusion that the demon inside her must be a bird of some sort. She racked her brain of the eleven demons there were to pick out any of the flying ones. She came up with the phoenix Suzaku which instead of tails had ten main tail _feathers_. 'Note to self: don't piss off Ama. High potential of getting ass kicked.'

Mayonaka opened her eyes, stood up and began walking over to Ama to confront her about Suzaku. If she didn't already know, now was a good time to find out. Besides, she had a right to know what was going on inside her. "Uh, hey, Ama-chan? Can I talk to you?"

Ama looked over at the sound of her name. "Oh. Hey…Mayonaka, right? Yeah, sure I guess. What's up?"

"Well…." Mayonaka had no idea of how to put it. She didn't want to freak Ama out and ruin a potential friendship, but she couldn't really back out now. "Um…do you know what a jinchuuriki is?" It wasn't much, but it was a start and the best that Mayonaka could do. She felt mildly intimidated knowing that she was in the presence of a demon just as powerful as her own and the Tokage-jigoku might not be able to protect her if something should happen.

Ama got a suspicious look in her eyes as if trying to analyze Mayonaka's motive without saying anything. "Yeah…. Why?" Lee had started paying attention to their conversation so Mayonaka, out of respect for Ama, made telepathic contact. The first thought she heard confirmed her suspicions, 'Does she know? If she does then how?!'

'Yeah, I know, but I guess it takes one to know one right?' Once she realized that Mayonaka hadn't opened her mouth at all through that whole sentence, Ama's eyes widened in shock.

"How the hell did you do that?!"

"It's called telepathy and it's part of my kekei-genkai. I'll explain it if you like. And I'll let you know, your secret's safe with me. Only the Hokage, my best friend and you know about mine. I'm not gonna tell anybody." Ama seemed to relax a little once she realized her secret was far from in danger. Mayonaka and Ama got to talking about anything and everything; their pasts, how they got their demons, their demons' abilities, fighting styles, training techniques and anything else that came to mind. While they were talking, Mayonaka suddenly heard a hacking cough come from the arena as something splattered across the floor. Naruto was yelling for Hinata to keep fighting and Mayonaka smelled blood. "Oh shit. Not good!"

Mayonaka ran over to the railing at the edge of the balcony to see what was going on between Hinata and Neji. She quickly glanced at her watch and saw that they'd been fighting for almost an hour now. Ama came up beside Mayonaka and seemed slightly concerned over Hinata. Mayonaka activated her metsuki-kyoudai to assess Hinata's condition. After about thirty seconds, she gasped and began running over to Naruto, her metsuki-kyoudai still activated. When he saw her coming, Naruto smiled at her, but the smile dropped off his face when he saw her expression.

"Mayo-chan what's wrong?! And what's with your eyes? And who the hell is that?!"

Mayonaka realized Ama had been tailing her to find out what had happened and she quickly began to explain. "Naruto this is Ama. Ama, Naruto. My eyes…I'm using my metsuki-kyoudai. Naruto, you gotta quit telling Hinata to keep fighting! She's badly injured; she has internal bleeding, one of her pacemakers is messed up so her ventricles are contracting spasmodically every few moments causing the small blood vessels in her alveoli to rupture, filling her lungs with blood and constricting her airways with the blood she is currently coughing up!" Mayonaka gasped for air to finish what she was saying. "If she fights much longer…she'll die."

Naruto's jaw dropped when his brain processed what Mayonaka was telling him and ran to the railing, a worried expression spreading across his face. Waves of anger rolled off of Ama. She was obviously pissed at Neji, her comrade. Mayonaka gripped the railing with her sweaty palms watching Hinata continue fighting even though she was slowly dying. 'I should give her more credit. She must be in an incomprehensible amount of pain right now, her chakra flow is cut off, and she just keeps fighting!' As soon as the fight was over, Hinata being incapable of fighting any longer, Mayonaka, Ama and Naruto jumped over the railing into the arena. Mayonaka ran towards the group of medical ninja surrounding Hinata.

"Hold on! Let me try to help her! Let me at least heal her enough that she'll get to the emergency room!" The medic-nins looked skeptical, but parted to let her through, hoping she knew what she was doing. Mayonaka unzipped Hinata's jacket revealing a tight black shirt that really flattered her. Hinata was unconscious and didn't stir as Mayonaka gently placed her shaking hands on Hinata's chest. She reactivated her metsuki-kyoudai and activated her gekai knowing that all eyes were on her. Mayonaka quickly fixed the pacemaker in Hinata's heart to prevent any further damage. She then slowly healed all the alveoli in Hinata's lungs, taking her time to make sure each one was thoroughly fixed, knowing the medic-nins didn't have the skill to do such a thing. After healing the alveoli, Mayonaka searched for the source of the internal bleeding. She knew it was somewhere in the abdominal cavity, but her metsuki-kyoudai was beginning to falter because she was so tired and running out of chakra. She let out a sigh as she deactivated both kekei-genkai and sat back.

"I stopped the bleeding in her lungs and returned her heartbeat to normal but I was unable to find the direct source of internal bleeding before I ran out of chakra, but I know it's in the abdominal cavity. She'll need a blood transfusion."

The medic-nins gently lifted Hinata onto a stretcher and hurried her off in the direction of the emergency room. Naruto walked over and knelt beside Mayonaka. "Hey, Mayo-chan? Are you alright? You look really drained."

Mayonaka let out an exhausted sigh before answering. "Yeah. I just…I just need some rest. Between the second exam, girl shit and this…I'm just out of chakra. I just need some rest. Here, help me up." Naruto let Mayonaka lean on him to get back up to the balcony. Mayonaka slumped back against the wall and shut her eyes as names began to flash across the screen again. She vaguely heard Sasuke's name called and she mumbled, "Good luck," to no one in particular. She slowly drifted off to a deep and dreamless sleep.

* * *

"Mayo-chan! What the hell?! You missed my match!" Mayonaka awoke to a swift, hard kick in the ribs. She fell over and tried to gather her scrambled thoughts and make some sense of what was going on. She looked up for the source of the voice and saw Ama.

"Ama-chan? Wait, hold on, how long have I been asleep?"

"About five hours. You missed Sasuke, Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Temari, Kankurou, and _me_!"

Mayonaka sat there with a dumb look on her face, her brain trying to process the information she was being given. "Um…sorry? I just needed some sleep! Well, anyways, who won?"

"Sasuke, Naruto and I all won our matches. You should have seen my match; Shino's bugs wouldn't do what he said! It was hilarious!"

A grin spread across Mayonaka's face as she stood up. "You're _kidding_! Seriously?! Okay, now _that_ is funny!" Mayonaka and Ama continued talking about the matches as names flashed across the screen for the next match. Mayonaka glanced up when it stopped flashing and fell silent when she saw Shikamaru's name.

"Mayo-chan? What's wrong?"

"Sorry Ama. I have to watch this match. You remember how I said that one of my best friends knew about my demon? Well, Shika-kun's that guy." Mayonaka went up to the railing to get a better view as Shikamaru walked down the stairs on the other side of the room. She was too absorbed by now to notice when Ama said, "Ha, Shika-kun knows about mine too." Mayonaka let out a gasp as she realized his opponent was the Sound kunoichi from earlier. "Oh shit. Not good."

"What is it?"

"That chick kicks ass." Mayonaka sighed and settled in to watch the fight.

* * *

Shikamaru won his match and when he walked back up the stairs Mayonaka greeted him with a bear hug. She healed his minor wounds after giving him an enthusiastic "Congrats!"

"Thanks Mayo-chan. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go nap." Mayonaka giggled and looked back up at the now flashing screen. She started laughing when Lee began whooping and shouting at the sight of his name.

"Ama, is he always this…happy?"

"Yeah. He calls it being 'youthful.'" Ama shrugged and giggled as Lee started doing some sort of victory dance.

Mayonaka looked back up at the screen and grasped her necklace when she saw who Lee's opponent was: Gaara. Mayonaka looked down at the arena and saw him already there. As Lee walked up to the railing to jump to the arena, Mayonaka placed a hand on his shoulder. "Be careful Lee. This guy's no joke." Lee nodded and jumped down to the arena.

"What was that about?"

Mayonaka hesitated before letting Ama know what she saw in the forest, "Earlier…during the second exam…I saw Gaara kill somebody for looking at him wrong. Moments later, he severed my foot. Not to mention…he's a jinchuuriki as well."

"What?! But…how do you know?"

"Same way I figured out you were. I should let you know that Naruto's a jinchuuriki as well. Naruto's got the Kyuubi and Gaara's got the Shukaku." Mayonaka quit paying attention to Ama as the match below began. Lee threw a series of blows at Gaara but Gaara's sand was able to deflect each one; he didn't have to move at all. Mayonaka smelled the bloodlust radiating off of Gaara. Once he got bored with standing there, he was going to toy with Lee until he felt like finishing him off. At one point, Lee ended up on the sculpture of the hands at one end of the arena…ten feet in the air. He seemed to be trying to make a decision. Ama suddenly shouted, "C'mon Lee, take them off! Gai-sensei will understand!" Lee nodded and started fumbling with something under his orange leg-warmers. When he stood up again, he was holding weights in both of his hands. When he dropped them, they hit the ground with a loud "BANG!" and cracked the floor. He was fast before, but when he moved now, he was invisible to the untrained eye. A look of shock displayed itself on Gaara's face.

Suddenly, Gaara's sand shot up to protect him from Lee's invisible blows. Finally, Lee brought a kick down which glanced Gaara's right cheek, leaving a cut. Mayonaka stupidly blinked and missed what happened next, but Gaara was now sliding across the floor on his back and Lee leapt back to the other side of the arena grinning. When Gaara began to stand up, Mayonaka saw a horrifying look of pure madness on his face. 'Oh shit…this won't end well.'

* * *

Lee had just opened the three gates and both ninja were lying on the floor. Gaara looked over at the boy who had caused him the most physical harm he had ever experienced and stretched out his arm in that direction. 'Oh shit.' His sand responded by slowly making its way over to Lee. 'Fuck!' Lee attempted to crawl away but his muscles were so badly torn he couldn't get far and the sand wrapped around his left arm and leg. "Fuck! This isn't good!"

"What?! What's he doing?!"

"Ama, you remember how I said that Gaara severed my foot? Well that's how he did it."

Gaara clenched his fist and said, "Desert funeral" as a loud crunching noise filled the room. The sand had constricted around Lee's arm and leg. He screamed in pain as the crushing sand fell away. Mayonaka let out a sigh of relief when she realized Gaara was too weak at the moment to sever the limbs. Lee fell to the ground.

"You fought well Lee. You couldn't have won anyway. He's got the advantage." Hayate, the referee, was about to call the match over when Lee started to move. "No way! He's lucky he isn't dead! How the hell is he moving?!" Mayonaka activated her metsuki-kyoudai to see what was going on. She saw all the bones in Lee's arm and leg were shattered and his muscles were ripped to shreds. She looked at his eyes and when she saw the expressionless face, she knew he was unconscious and was standing on pure determination. Gaara stood up and gathered all his sand into one large wave. "No!"

Ama beat her to it. She leapt into the arena and stood in front of Lee. Hayate immediately called the match over and said that Gaara won by default. Gaara stood there, staring at Ama with a puzzled expression. "Why save him?"

"Because, dumb ass, he's my comrade and my friend and I can't just watch him die!" Gaara walked away looking more confused than before. Mayonaka jumped down to the arena and ran over to Lee to see what she could do to help. The medic-nins immediately parted to let her through so she could examine Lee. "How bad is it?"

"Well, his muscles are a wreck, his left arm and leg are shattered, and his chakra's almost at absolute zero." Mayonaka first set to work setting the tiny bone fragments to their rightful positions and speeding up the amount of time it took his bones to heal. She left the rest to the medic-nins' capable hands.

"Is he going to be alright?"

"He'll survive if that's what you mean, but with those injuries, I'm not sure he'll be able to be a ninja anymore." Ama's eyes welled up and she began beating the shit out of the wall behind her as angry tears streamed down her face. Neji, having come down to check on Lee, hesitantly tried to calm her down. Mayonaka hung her head, her own eyes welling up as she wished she could have done more for Lee. All three were ushered back up the stairs when the next match needed to begin.

Mayonaka looked up at the flashing screen with misty eyes, her vision blurred. She saw her name on the screen and hopped over the railing to the arena, wiping away a tear that had flowed over her eyelid. "Okay. Now, which weakling do I get to beat the shit out of?" Ino descended the stairs and stopped on the other side of the arena. Mayonaka grinned evilly. "Oh now _this_ I can have fun with."

"Begin!" Neither of them moved but Ino was tense. Mayonaka couldn't help but giggle.

"Hey, Ino. I'll make you a deal. You get first shot and it's a free shot." Ino seemed suspicious at first but once she realized that Mayonaka wasn't kidding, she charged. She aimed a kick at Mayonaka's abdomen but screwed up and hit her square in the chest causing Mayonaka to fly backwards and to crash into a wall. Ino then jumped back to the other side of the arena and got in a defensive position, not realizing what she had just done.

Mayonaka grimaced and crossed her arms over her chest. Her breasts were already sore from starting her period that day, but now they were exploding with pain. Her eyes glowed red and a scaly tail sprouted above her denim shorts. She grew fangs and claws. Her tail swished back and forth as she stood back up. "You _bitch_!" Ino realized what she had done and a look of sheer terror appeared on her face. An angry growl erupted from Mayonaka's throat as she charged at Ino, craving blood. She swiped her clawed hand at Ino's face as soon as she was within range, but Ino avoided it. Instead, Mayonaka's claws slashed through Ino's ponytail, cropping it extremely short. Mayonaka took another swipe with her claws but Ino evaded it by leaping to the other side of the arena. A snarl ripped through the room as Mayonaka got down on all fours, her nostrils flaring. Terrified, Ino raised her arm and forfeited. Mayonaka didn't care. 

She charged at Ino, her teeth bared. Several higher ranked ninja surrounded her and held her back as she struggled to get at Ino. Giving up on close range, Mayonaka took a deep breath and felt the heat rising in her body. Ino barely made it out of the way as a stream of blue fire shot out of Mayonaka's mouth causing the ninja holding her back to jump away from the heat.

Ino dodged the flames and scrambled up the stairs to the rest of her team. Mayonaka cut off the fire and silently glared at Ino, her eyes still glowing red and tail swishing back and forth. She ascended the stairs to get back to her squad. As she passed the Suna ninja, Gaara gave her a what-the-fuck kind of look. Mayonaka couldn't stop the growl that erupted from her chest as she glared at him and subtly flipped him off again. She really didn't need anyone's shit right now.

Once with her team again, Mayonaka abandoned her tail and sat against the wall while crossing her arms over her still throbbing chest as tears of pain, anger and frustration welled up in her glowing, red eyes. Waves of pure hatred just rolled off of Mayonaka, causing the others to keep their distance. Although, her blood red glowing eyes, claws and fangs likely had something to do with it as well. Mayonaka tightly shut her eyes and bit the back of her hand as hot tears rolled down her burning cheeks. The blood that seeped through the wound was enough to soothe her craving, hence her eyes returned to normal, but the sting wasn't enough to cover up the pain in her chest. She chewed at the skin slightly, her fangs beginning to tear the tendons. Finally, they brushed against a bundle of nerves that sent a shooting pain all up and down her right arm. Mayonaka ripped her hand from her mouth out of instinct. Her gekai quickly set to work to heal the damaged flesh. The pain made what happened to her chest seem like a paper cut, but that's what she wanted. She knew the pain would be gone in a moment and the pain in her chest would seem dulled.

Mayonaka opened her eyes when she felt someone standing over her and saw Shikamaru. She smiled. "He Shika-kun. Sorry for having a shit attack on your teammate. But she deserved it after what she did."

Shikamaru sat beside Mayonaka against the wall. "You scared Ino pretty badly. I wouldn't care but she _is_ my comrade. I'm guessing the fire, tail and all that was from the Tokage-jigoku. Am I right?"

"As always Shikamaru. Ino is alright…right?"

"She'll be fine." Shikamaru glanced at Mayonaka's mouth. "Um…are you bleeding?"

Mayonaka, at first, didn't realize that blood from her hand had begun drying around the edges of her mouth and figured that she had somehow bled through her tampon and three layers of clothing. Her face turned red and as she licked her dry lips, she tasted the blood. She then realized what had happened. "No I'm not. I was…but now I'm not. I bit my hand." Mayonaka then scraped at the blood that had dried on her cheeks.

"I'm just not even going to ask. Earlier…you said Ino deserved what she got for what she did. What exactly did she do?"

Mayonaka's face went maroon. "Er…she…well…. It's a girl thing." Shikamaru seemed to accept that, knowing he really didn't want to go farther. Both of the genin sat there silently as the match between Chouji and another Sound nin, Dosu, commenced. Mayonaka just wished they'd get these stupid exams over with so she could get back to her life.


	11. Chapter 11

Trouble in the ICU…

Chouji lost his very short match. Mayonaka didn't blame him. Those Sound ninja were really tough. After his match, all the genin were called back down into the arena and informed that those who were continuing would be given a month to train for the actual matches. They were then told who they would be up against and what order the matches would be in. First, it was Naruto vs. Neji, then Sasuke vs. Gaara, Amatsu vs. Kankurou, Shikamaru vs. Temari and finally, Mayonaka vs. Dosu. Because they had all learned each others' moves and fighting styles, the month of training would give them time to come up with new techniques.

As soon as they were allowed to leave, Mayonaka found Ama-chan. "Hey, Ama-chan, do you want some help training?"

"Sure, why not? I usually get up pretty early and go to training ground 4 for the whole morning. If you meet me there we can train together. I've needed a good sparring partner for ages now. Neji's afraid I'll barbeque his ass and Lee…Lee is too 'youthful.'"

"That reminds me; earlier you said Shika-kun knew about Suzaku. How many people actually know?"

"Well, my whole team and all of my friends. They know all about my past. Anyway, it's not really all that big of a deal." At that point, Naruto came running up to Mayonaka.

"Mayo-chan! Can you believe it?! We're gonna be chuunin!" Just watching Naruto jump around with so much energy made Mayonaka even more tired.

"Naruto, how the hell do you keep going like that?" Suddenly, Mayonaka noticed something was wrong. "Naruto-kun, where's Sasuke-teme?"

"Why do you care? You hate him."

"Uh, he's my teammate and it kinda matters if he spontaneously combusts while I sleep or something because that would be bad. It would be really funny but it would still be bad."

"Don't worry. He didn't die or anything. Right after he won his match, Kakashi-sensei came and took him to the hospital or something. It doesn't matter. He's fine." Mayonaka shrugged. If he was with Kakashi he was probably fine. As they were all escorted out of the building and outside of the forest, Mayonaka realized how hungry she was. It was already late in the evening and Mayonaka had only had cup-ramen at eight in the morning. Usually she would've slowed her metabolism, but it had slipped her mind. And with her period, frankly, she felt like she was starving.

"Hey, guys, I'll catch ya later. I'ma go home, eat and crash." Mayonaka sprouted the Tokage-jigoku's wings, leapt into the air and made a beeline for her apartment. She just hoped none of her leftovers had gone bad. She got to the complex in record time and landed just outside the front door which she then ripped open to sprint inside and up the stairs to her apartment. Mayonaka had to dig through her pockets for a while before she found her key. As soon as the door was open, Kurohyou jumped into her arms. "Hello there. I bet you're hungry."

Mayonaka had asked the landlord to feed Kurohyou whenever she didn't come home, but the poor man wouldn't remember his own head if it wasn't attached to his shoulders. Mayonaka carried the purring creature into the kitchen where her food dishes were and sure enough, they were empty. "Damn that man. Next time I'll staple a note to his forehead." Mayonaka set Kurohyou down as she began rummaging through the cupboards to find some cat food. She found the last can of salmon, opened it up and put it in the bowl on the floor for Kurohyou. The cat attacked it as if it hadn't eaten in months.

Mayonaka then went through her fridge, grabbed everything she thought was food, and found ways to make it edible. About an hour later at 10:00 and halfway through her dinner, Mayonaka heard a knock on the door. She muted the TV so she could hear and called out, "Who is it?"

"Take a guess!" Mayonaka quickly wiped her face with a napkin and bounded over to the door. She could tell from her voice that it was Ama-chan. Mayonaka pulled open the door with a smile and greeted her friend.

"Hey Ama-chan! What's up?" Naruto opened the door to his apartment a crack to find out who was making all the noise.

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come to Ichiraku's with me. My treat."

Naruto beamed and pulled his door wide open. "Hey, Mayo-chan, can I come too?"

Mayonaka let out a heavy sigh. "Sorry guys. I already prepared tons of food for myself. You're welcome to come eat dinner with me. I don't think I'll be able to finish all my food and there's this movie on TV. I haven't really been paying much attention, but it seems interesting." Mayonaka opened her door so Naruto and Ama could see all the food spread out on her coffee table.

"I'm in!" Naruto ran in, jumped on the couch and grabbed all the food within reach.

"Me too!" Ama followed suit leaving Mayonaka in the doorway giggling at how energetic the two could be. Mayonaka closed the door and plopped down on the couch between Ama and Naruto, grabbed the remote and unmuted the TV. While they ate, all three began to make fun of the cheesy effects on the movie. When the movie was over and they had all finished stuffing their faces, Ama and Naruto went to their apartments and Mayonaka began cleaning up the mess. When Mayonaka finished putting everything away, it was about 3:00 am. Going to bed now wasn't a very good idea. She would wake up at noon or later.

Mayonaka sighed and crawled out her window onto her roof. Unfortunately, the moon was blocked by a taller building. Without the moon, sitting outside would just be boring. Mayonaka climbed onto the roof of the taller building only to find someone already there. Fortunately, the person hadn't seen her, but they would if she moved. Mayonaka activated her metsuki-kyoudai to see better in the dark and mentally gasped; it was Gaara. Mayonaka felt a blush forming on her cheeks, hidden by the night. She was stuck; if she moved, Gaara would see her and most likely try to kill her. Mayonaka invaded his mind and heard ferocious roaring and yelling that belonged to Shukaku; he longed blood. Mayonaka's face paled and her heart rate quickened.

Mayonaka's hand slowly traveled up to her necklace as she broke contact and began playing with the pendant. 'I've really found myself a fixer-upper haven't I? What he needs is someone to love him, but that won't happen until he learns to accept love.'

Suddenly, Mayonaka's foot slipped, her shoe scraping along the side of the building. She was able to catch herself, only to be surrounded by Gaara's sand. He lifted her into the air, engulfing all but her face with his sand, until he could see her clearly. Mayonaka struggled against the sand that bound her, but to no avail as her heart rate quickened in fear. She had seen what this sand could do. "What is your purpose here?"

Mayonaka tried to say "I couldn't sleep," but she couldn't get any sound out. She was absolutely terrified as she continued to fidget and loosen the sand that constricted her. That's when the sand began to harden, covering her face and blocking her airway. Gaara had obviously made his decision; she was a meaningless waste of his time so he would kill her. Mayonaka panicked. Her eyes began to glow red as she drew from the Tokage-jigoku's power. The problem was that since she was in a panic, she had less control over the demon.

Her teeth and nails grew sharp and as she sprouted wings and a tail, the pressure the new appendages put on the sand forced it to burst, setting her free. She flew high in the air, desperate to get away from the death threat. She looked back down at Gaara and saw the confusion and bewilderment in his eyes. As she calmed down, Mayonaka gained more control over her demon. "Sorry, I'm not going to be killed that easily." Mayonaka flew off into the night, away from her apartment, looking for somewhere else to spend the night.

She thought of Amatsu. She lived alone. Mayonaka flew over to the only other apartment complex in Konoha. Amatsu must've been staying there. She activated her metsuki-kyoudai and saw Amatsu on the fourth floor, sound asleep on the couch. Mayonaka perched on the balcony just outside Amatsu's apartment and rapped on the window. Ama stirred but didn't get up. Mayonaka tried again and when Ama finally sat up and looked out her window, she smiled sheepishly, shifting her tail and wings to keep from falling off the small balcony.

"Mayo-chan? What are you doing here?"

"Um…mind if I stay the rest of the night? I know it's 3:30 in the morning but …something…happened in my complex so…can I stay?"

"Uh…sure. I was planning on getting up soon anyway. Just let me undo the lock and I'll let you in." Ama unlocked the window so Mayonaka could come in. Mayonaka hopped into the room, abandoning her wings and tail in the process. "So, mind telling me what happened? And don't say it was nothing because 'nothing' doesn't terrify people."

"Who said I was terrified?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you; I can read people's emotions. Surprise! Now tell me what happened."

"Fine! You know that Gaara kid?"

"The one you're crushing on?"

"How—never mind. Yeah, that one. And if you tell anyone, I will hang you by your own intestines. Got that?!"

Ama put up her hands defensively. "Okay! My lips are sealed!"

"Good. So, anyways, I decided it would be better to just not sleep tonight; otherwise I'd wake up at noon or later. So I went on the roof but I couldn't see the moon because this other building was in the way. I climbed up that building, but when I got to the roof, Gaara was already there. I slipped and Gaara saw me. He did his whole sand coffin thing, I panicked, escaped, and so now here I am. End of story."

Ama's eyes doubled in size from shock. Suddenly, she bowed her head and started chuckling to herself, confusing Mayonaka. Ama looked up and said through her giggling fits, "Well, at least you got his attention!" She couldn't hold herself back anymore and started laughing hysterically.

Mayonaka's jaw dropped as she stared at her friend in disbelief. "Are you fucking _serious_?! I just about _died_!!"

Ama only laughed harder. "Well you didn't so there!" Mayonaka shook her head and walked over to Ama's bathroom to shower. Every time she ran her hand through her hair, sand would fall out, and seeing what Gaara had done to that guy in the forest, she didn't even _want_ to know what else was mixed in with the sand. After both girls got ready for the day, they headed for the training grounds to prepare for the final chuunin exam.

* * *

The exam was in two days and at the moment, Mayonaka was Ama's sparring partner. In the month that had passed, Ama's speed, strength and stamina had all increased with Mayonaka's help. She had also learned a couple of new jutsu. Mayonaka was confident enough that she would win so she merely helped Ama train. Every time they got in a sparring match it would end in a tie, a truce, and a shared box of pocky.

Every day, the two girls visited Lee in the hospital during the afternoon. He was usually unconscious, but Mayonaka could tell when he was doing well. She just didn't want to break the news to him that it was unlikely he could be a ninja when he woke up.

After visiting Lee, Ama would go help Neji train. During this time, Mayonaka didn't have much to do. She couldn't find Naruto, and Sasuke was training secretly with Kakashi-sensei, and everyone else was training to no end. On one of these afternoons, Mayonaka heard that Naruto had been knocked unconscious in training and was in the hospital. Mayonaka rushed over immediately and found Shikamaru with a basket of food next to Naruto's bed. "What are you doing here?"

"Chouji got severe indigestion and had to be hospitalized. Ino brought the food but the nurses said his meals had to be rationed."

"So do you know what the imbecile did this time?"

"No. All we know is he's unconscious." Mayonaka sighed and sat down next to Shikamaru to wait for Naruto to wake up. As the hours crawled by, Mayonaka tried to find something to do. She found an old Shougi set in the closet and challenged Shikamaru to a game. "You're going to lose."

"Says you. Here, I'll even make a bet. I win…and you buy me all the ramen and pocky I can eat at Ichiraku's."

"No way! I've seen how much you can eat. That'd cost a fortune!"

"Does someone sound like they doubt their ability to win?"

"Fine! But if I win…. No, let me rephrase that. _When _I win…you have to do my chores at my house for a week."

"That's all? I can do that!"

"My parents make me carry my own weight. It's more difficult than you think."

"Well _I _think you're just being a lazy-ass." Shikamaru shrugged and they started the game. Several hours went by and it looked like Mayonaka was winning. _Looked _is the key word here seeing as in the next second, Shikamaru won. Mayonaka's jaw dropped as she stared at the board in disbelief. "No way! How the hell did you do that?!"

Shikamaru looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already 8:30 in the evening. "You can start tonight. C'mon, my parents'll be expecting me." Mayonaka glared up at Shikamaru who was grinning smugly.

"Fine. You beat me at Shougi. But in a regular fight we both know I'd win!" Mayonaka got up and followed Shikamaru out of the room, a steady stream of curses leaving her mouth.

The next day, Mayonaka finished Shikamaru's morning chores and went to the training grounds to meet up with Amatsu. They trained for the morning and then went to visit Lee and Naruto, both of them still unconscious. Ama left to train with Neji, but Mayonaka stayed with Naruto when Shikamaru came in after visiting Chouji. An hour later, Naruto finally woke up. "Hey…what happened?"

"You got knocked unconscious dumb ass. By the way, the exam is tomorrow."

"What?! But…I need to train more!"

"Too bad!" Mayonaka could only laugh at Naruto's predicament.

"Hey, Shikamaru, why are you here anyway?"

"Chouji got indigestion."

"I only came here to visit Lee and you for like…fifteen minutes. I'm _still_ here because I'm bored."

"Wait, so Lee's still hospitalized? Let's go visit him. I haven't seen him at all."

"You guys do that. I'm gonna check on Chouji. I haven't seen him yet."

"Okay Mayo-chan." Naruto and Shikamaru went to visit Lee while Mayonaka visited Chouji. As soon as Mayonaka got to Chouji's room, he walked out, released from the hospital.

"Hey Chouji! Feeling better?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna celebrate with some ribs. You wanna come with?"

"Nah, I'll pass. Thanks anyway! I'll see ya later." Mayonaka headed in the direction of Lee's room to catch up with Naruto and Shikamaru. As soon as she opened the door to Lee's room, Mayonaka's brain started working overtime. A wall of sand was hurtling towards Naruto and Shikamaru. Naruto was scared stiff, Lee was unconscious and half covered in sand, and Shikamaru was using his shadow jutsu on Gaara, the source of the sand wall.

Mayonaka jumped in front of Naruto and Shikamaru, blocking the sand with her arms as it cascaded down. The sand immediately sliced a gash in her right forearm and blood began to drip on the floor. The flow of sand stopped and Mayonaka glared up at Gaara's blank face as she began to lower her arms. "What the hell is your problem?! What did Naruto and Shikamaru do to piss you off so much?!"

"They got in my way." Gaara's voice sounded more like a deep-throated growl coming from a rabid dog.

"They got in your way?! Of what?!"

"Of feeling alive." The sand around Lee shifted slightly, catching Mayonaka's attention. Finally, she put two and two together.

"You were here to kill Lee? What the shit did he ever do to you?! You won the match! What would you gain by killing him you bastard?!"

"I would be fulfilling my purpose in life, which is to erase every existence but my own."

"So let me understand this. Your purpose in life is to kill everyone but yourself? What the shit?!"

"I am merely an experiment conducted by my village to create a stronger ninja. A demon was sealed within me before I was born and to complete the jutsu, my mother was sacrificed at my birth. When I was six, my father realized I was a failed experiment and hired several assassins to eliminate me before I became too dangerous. I am merely a monster." Mayonaka remembered what she had seen of Gaara's past and her heart broke. That had been nothing compared to what she was hearing now. Mayonaka fell into a stunned silence as Naruto snapped back to reality.

"Well guess what, I have a demon and it's just as real as yours!" Mayonaka was pulled out of her trance. 'When did he find out?!' The look on Shikamaru's face would have been really funny if they weren't in this situation. It was the very definition of shock as he stared at Naruto in disbelief. He obviously hadn't known that Naruto was a jinchuuriki. Mayonaka decided to back up Naruto. Gaara would never be intimidated by the hyper blonde.

"And he's not the only one. You're up against two jinchuuriki now. Think you can handle it?" Now it was Naruto's turn to look shocked. Shikamaru only seemed surprised that Mayonaka had said it aloud, but Naruto gaped at her like a stupid-looking fish. At that moment, a tall man in a green jumpsuit identical to Lee's walked into the room. Not only were his clothes the same, but he also had the same bowl-cut and thick eyebrows. 'This must be Gai-sensei. He looks like he could be Lee-san's father!'

"What's going on here?" Shikamaru released Gaara form his jutsu and Gaara withdrew his sand and walked towards the door. Before he walked out, he looked over his shoulder, glaring at the other genin.

"I will kill you all." With that he left.

* * *

"So, Mayonaka, you're a jinchuuriki?"

"For the hundredth time, yes Naruto."

"Mayonaka, why didn't you tell me Naruto was a jinchuuriki? Don't tell me you didn't know because you obviously weren't surprised."

"Sorry Shikamaru, but the Hokage asked that I didn't tell anybody. I didn't know that Naruto knew about it though."

"Mayonaka, why didn't you tell _me_ you were a jinchuuriki?!"

"How was I supposed to know whether or not you would accept me? But now I know most of Konoha doesn't care."

"You didn't think a fellow jinchuuriki would accept you?!"

"Again, I didn't know if you knew or not."

"Wait! Did you know Gaara was a jinchuuriki?"

"Yes, Shikamaru."

"How?!"

"My kekei-genkai. When I read the mind of a jinchuuriki, I hear a faint growling of the demon in the background."

"So are there any other jinchuuriki I should know about?"

"Sorry Naruto, I promised them I wouldn't tell anybody. Now am I done being interrogated?" Naruto and Shikamaru nodded. Mayonaka sat down on a stool at Ichiraku's. They had been talking about this since they left Lee's room and had ended up here.

"Okay, so you're a jinchuuriki, right Mayonaka?"

"Naruto, if you ask me that one more time, I'll pull out your intestines with a crochet hook."

"Okay, but, what about your past? I still don't—"

"Nope."

"Aw c'mon!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Please!" Mayonaka thought it over while their ramen was being cooked.

"Okay fine. But only if you pay for my ramen and pocky. Besides, don't you remember when Shikamaru told you about my past when I first came here?"

"You're evil and no I don't remember that."

"Geez you've got a bad memory. And about the whole being evil thing, I _was_ born on the 333rd day of the year." When their ramen arrived, Mayonaka explained her past to Naruto. After several hours and bowls of ramen, Mayonaka finally finished; Naruto had kept interrupting. Naruto went back to his apartment and Mayonaka went with Shikamaru to take care of his evening chores. After that, Mayonaka went back to her apartment and went to bed. Tomorrow was the final exams and Mayonaka had the strange feeling that she was going to need her rest.

* * *

A/N:

me: Hi everyone! This would be Zenaku speaking! (no that's not my real name I just like it better because too many people have the same name as me) I'm really glad you've read my story so far. Oh yeah! disclaimer time! I do not own _Naruto_ or the main plot of this story. The only thing that I own is Mayonaka Tenshi. My friend, ryuu-bushi (search for her and read Amatsu's POV when she posts. She has to rewrite a bit so give her time), owns Amatsu. Well, I'm finally leaving an actual author's note now because, I won't be able to post until the end of May.

Mayonaka: What?! But my story must be told!! You _must_ post!

me: Shut-up! I'm not done talking yet!!

Mayonaka: Give me one good reason why I should listen to what you say!

me: I'll give you two! One: who has complete control over what happens in your life? and Two: I'm still older than you!

Mayonaka: That's only because you haven't written Shippuuden yet!

me: Do you want me to continue writing your story or not?

Mayonaka: _shuts up_

me: Good girl. Now you get a cookie.

Mayonaka: YAY COOKIE!! X3

me: Okay, anyways, yeah, I won't be able to post until the end of May because I'll be going to New York, then Chicago, and then it's finals week, and then it's summer vacation on the 31st. I really appreciate that you've read my story up to this point. I'm very proud of myself for actually getting this far. If it weren't for those people who read it, I would have quit this a long time ago. It is currently about 140 handwritten pages long in my notebook (I need a new one soon). I would really appreciate it if you tell me what you think so far. Leave some reviews for me! I like to know what people think. Again, thanks for reading and I'm sorry it will take me so long to post again. I will continue to write but I also have to work on another story for my friend Lauren or she will eat my face. Until then, hasta luego!!

_offstage_

Mayonaka: By the way, about your "Good girl," comment, good girls are only bad girls who don't get caught. XD

me: OI! THAT'S MY LINE DAMN YOU! YOU CAN'T USE IT!! For that you will be in pain the next chapter!

Mayonaka: _pales_ Sorry Zenaku-sama!! Gomenasai!!

me: _headdesk_ What will I do with you?

Mayonaka: _hopefully_ Give me a cookie?

me: Why don't you go beat up Sasuke-teme?

Mayonaka: YAY!! _leaves_

me: BTW, HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO EVERYBODY!! It isn't Mexico's Independance Day! See ya later and good luck on finals! _peace sign _XD And again, oh yeah! November 29th (Mayonaka's and my birthday) is in fact the 333rd day of the year! We're half evil! That's your random fact of the day XD


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